tihvavy  of  Che  tiveolojical  ^mimvy 


PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

John  Stuart  Conning,  D.D, 
JV  6455  .P3 

Park,  Robert  Ezra,  1864- 

1944. 
Old  world  traits 

transplanted 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS 
TRANSPLANTED 


Americanization  Studies 


Schooling  of  the  Immigrant. 

Frank  V.  Thompson,  Supt.  of  Public  Schools,  Boston 
America  via  the  Neighborhood. 

John  Daniels 
Old  World  Traits  Transplanted. 

Robert  E.  Park,  Professorial  Lecturer,  University  of  Chicago 

Herbert  A.  Miller,  Professor  of  Sociology,  Oberlin  College 
Immigrant  Health  and  the  Community.    (In  press) 

Michael  M.  Davis,  Jr.,  Director,  Boston  Dispensary 
A  Stake  in  the  Land.    (In  press) 

Peter  A.  Speek,  Head  of  Russian  Section,  Library  of  Congress 
New  Homes  for  Old.    (In  preparation) 

S.  P.  Breckinridge,  Assistant  Professor  of  Household  Ad- 
ministration, University  of  Chicago 
Adjusting  Immigrant  and  Industry.    (In  preparation) 

William  M.  Leiserson,  Chairman,  Labor  Adjustment  Boards, 

Rochester  and  New  York 
The  Immigrant  Press  and  Its  Control.    (In  preparation) 

Robert  E.  Park,  Professorial  Lecturer,  University  of  Chicago 
The  Immigrant's  Day  in  Court.    (In  preparation) 

Kate  Holladay  Claghom,  Instructor  in  Social  Research, 

New  York  School  of  Social  Work 
Americans  by  Choice.    (In  preparation) 

John  P.  Gavit,  Vice-President,  New  York  Evening  Post 
Summary.    (In  preparation) 

Allen  T.  Bums,  Director,  Studies  in  Methods  of  American- 
ization 


Harper  &  Brothers  Publishers 


-7^,  

AMERICANIZATION  STUDIES 
ALLEN  T.  BURNS.  DIRECTOR 

OLD  WORLD  TRAITS 
TRANSPLANTED 


BY 

ROBERT  E.  PARK 

PBOIXSaORIAL  MCTURER, 
UNIVERSITT  OP  CHICAGO 

AND 

HERBERT  A.  MILLER 

FROrEBSOB  OF  BOCIOLOOT,  OBEKLIN  COLLEOB 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
NEW   YORK  AND  LONDON 
1921 


Old  World  Traits  Transplanted 


Copyright.  1921;  by  Harper  &  Brothers 
Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


4.  V 


PUBLISHER'S  NOTE 


The  material  in  this  volume  was  gathered  by 
the  Division  of  Treatment  of  Immigrant  Herit- 
ages of  Studies  in  Methods  of  Americanization. 

Americanization  in  these  studies  has  been  con- 
sidered as  the  union  of  native  and  foreign  born 
in  all  the  most  fundamental  relationships  and 
activities  of  our  national  life.  For  Americaniza- 
tion is  the  uniting  of  new  with  native-born  Ameri- 
cans in  fuller  common  understanding  and  ap- 
preciation to  secure  by  means  of  individual  and 
collective  self -direction  the  highest  welfare  of  all. 
Such  Americanization  should  perpetuate  no  un- 
changeable political,  domestic,  and  economic 
regime  delivered  once  for  all  to  the  fathers,  but 
a  growing  and  broadening  national  life,  inclu- 
sive of  the  best  wherever  found.  With  all 
our  rich  heritages,  Americanism  will  develop 
best  through  a  mutual  giving  and  taking  of 
contributions  from  both  newer  and  older  Ameri- 
cans in  the  interest  of  the  commonweal.  These 
studies  have  followed  such  an  understanding  of 
Americanization. 


1 


FOREWORD 


This  volume  is  the  result  of  studies  in  methods 
of  Americanization  prepared  through  funds  fur- 
nished by  the  Carnegie  Corporation  of  New  York. 
It  arose  out  of  the  fact  that  constant  applications 
were  being  made  to  the  Corporation  for  contribu- 
tions to  the  work  of  numerous  agencies  engaged 
in  various  forms  of  social  activity  intended  to 
extend  among  the  people  of  the  United  States 
the  knowledge  of  their  government  and  their 
obligations  to  it.  The  trustees  felt  that  a  study 
which  should  set  forth,  not  theories  of  social 
betterment,  but  a  description  of  the  methods  of 
the  various  agencies  engaged  in  such  work,  would 
be  of  distinct  value  to  the  cause  itself  and  to  the 
public. 

The  outcome  of  the  study  is  contained  in  eleven 
volumes  on  the  following  subjects:  Schooling  of 
the  Immigrant;  The  Press;  Adjustment  of 
Homes  and  Family  Life;  Legal  Protection  and 
Correction;  Health  Standards  and  Care;  Natu- 
ralization and  Political  Life;  Industrial  and  Eco- 
nomic Amalgamation;  Treatment  of  Immigrant 
Heritages;  Neighborhood  Agencies  and  Organi- 
zation; Rural  Developments;  and  Summary. 
The  entire  study  has  been  carried  out  under  the 
general  direction  of  Mr.  Allen  T.  Burns.  Each 


FOREWORD 


volume  appears  in  the  name  of  the  author  who 
had  immediate  charge  of  the  particular  field  it 
is  intended  to  cover. 

Upon  the  invitation  of  the  Carnegie  Corpora- 
tion a  committee  consisting  of  the  late  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  Prof.  John  Graham  Brooks,  Dr.  John 
M.  Glenn,  and  ISIr.  John  A.  Voll  has  acted  in 
an  advisory  capacity  to  the  director.  An  edi- 
torial committee  consisting  of  Dr.  Talcott  Will- 
iams, Dr.  Raymond  B.  Fosdick,  and  Dr.  Edwin 
F.  Gay  has  read  and  criticized  the  manu- 
scripts. To  both  of  these  committees  the 
trustees  of  the  Carnegie  Corporation  are  much 
indebted. 

The  purpose  of  the  report  is  to  give  as  clear 
a  notion  as  possible  of  the  methods  of  the  agen- 
cies actually  at  work  in  this  field  and  not  to 
propose  theories  for  dealing  with  the  complicated 
questions  involved. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGB 

Publisher's  Note  v 

Foreword  vii 

List  of  Maps  xi 

Diagram  xii 

CHAPTER 

I.   Immighant  Heritages  1 

Heritages  Defined  2 

Illustrative  Documents  4 

Resulting  Antagonisms  16 

II.    Heritages  and  Human  Wishes  25 

Four  Fundamental  Wishes  27 

Primitive  Regulation  of  Wishes  29 

Adjustment  to  Individualistic  Society  40 

m.  Immigrant  Experiences  43 

Change  in  Attitudes  43 

Loss  of  Status  47 

rV.   Immigrant  Demoralization  60 

Early  Stages  62 

Extreme  Cases  66 

V.   Immigrant  Types  81 

The  Settler  83 

The  Colonist  92 

The  Political  Idealist  96 

The  Allrightnick  101 

The  Caffone  103 

The  Intellectual  104 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  rXCK 

VI.   Immigrant  Institutions  119 

First-Aid  Institutions  121 

Mutual  Aid  and  Benefit  Societies  124 

Nationalistic  Organizations  132 

Cultural  Institutions  144 

Vn.    The  Immigrant  Commxjnitt  145 

The  Italians  14» 

The  Chinese  159 

The  Japanese  167 

The  Mexicans  180 

The  Jews  195 

The  Poles  211 

The  Bohemians  21» 

The  Scandinavians  221 

Vlll.   Types  of  Community  Influence  225 

The  Polish  Community  225 

The  Jewish  Community  234 

The  Itahan  Community  23& 

EX.   Reconciliation  of  the  Heritages  259 

Required  in  a  Democracy  260 

Similarity  of  Heritages  265 

Psychology  of  Assimilation  270 

Tolerance  versus  Suppression  280 

Immigrant  Organization  Valuable  287 

Perpetuation  of  Groups  Impossible  296 


LIST  OF  MAPS 


MAP 


The  Peace  Treaty  is  an  attempt  to  make  racial 
and  political  boimdaries  more  nearly  coincide 

Frontispiece 

1.  The  Polish  National  Alliance  has  1,658  branches 

distributed  in  33  states  134 

2.  French-Canadian  parishes  of  New  England  and 

New  York  141 

3.  Bowery  colony  of  Itahans  showing  settlements  ac- 

cording to  native  provinces  and  towns  Facing  146 

4.  Cahfornia  branches  of  the  Japanese  Association  168 

5.  Location  of  Japanese  business  in  San  Francisco  172 

6.  Organizations  in  the  Japanese  community  in  San 

Francisco  174 

7.  Birthplace  of  the  founders  of  the  Jewish  syna- 

gogues in  a  congested  New  York  district  201 

8.  Density  of  Jewish  population  in  the  neighborhoods 

of  certain  Kehillah  districts  of  Manhattan  208 

9.  Norwegian  Lutheran  churches  in  Minnesota  223 

10.  Location  of  ItaUan  colonists  in  New  York  City 

with  sources  of  emigration  in  Italy  242 


DIAGRAM 


DIAGRAM 

1.  Comparison  of  the  Jewish  population  of  New  York 
City  with  that  of  other  countries 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS 
TRANSPLANTED 


I 

IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 

During  the  past  seventy  years  the  various 
tribes,  races,  and  nationalities  of  mankind 
have  been  examined  in  detail  by  the  students  | 
of  ethnology,  and  a  comparison  of  the  results  | 
shows  that  the  fundamental  patterns  of  life  j 
and  behavior  are  everywhere  the  same,  i 
whether  among  the  ancient  Greeks,  the  ' 
modern  Italians,  the  Asiatic  Mongols,  the 
Australian  blacks,  or  the  African  Hotten- 
tots.   All  have  a  form  of  family  life,  moral 
and  legal  regulations,  a  religious  system,  a 
form  of  government,  artistic  practices,  and 
so  forth.    An  examination  of  the  moral  code 
of  any  given  group,  say  the  African  Kaffirs, 
will  disclose  many  identities  with  that  of 
any  other  given  group,  say  the  Hebrews. 

All  groups  have  such  "commandments"  as 

1 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


"Honor  thy  father  and  mother,"  "Thou 
shalt  not  kill,"  "Thou  shalt  not  steal." 
Formerly  it  was  assumed  that  this  similarity 
was  the  result  of  borrowing  between  groups. 
When  Bastian  recorded  a  Hawaiian  myth 
resembling  the  one  of  Orpheus  and  Eury- 
dice,  there  was  speculation  as  to  how  this 
story  had  been  carried  so  far  from  Greece. 
But  it  is  now  recognized  that  similarities  of 
culture  are  due,  in  the  main,  not  to  imita- 
tion, but  to  parallel  development.  The 
^    nature  of  man  is  everywhere  essentially  the 
1    same  and  tends  to  express  itself  everywhere 
}    in  similar  sentiments  and  institutions. 

HERITAGES  DEFINED 

On  the  other  hand,  the  different  races  and 
nationalities  differ  widely  in  the  details  of 
their  conception  and  practice  of  life,  and 
even  their  behavior  in  connection  with  gen- 
eral ideals  which  they  hold  in  common  is 
often  curiously  and  startlingly  different. 
Thus,  "Honor  thy  father  and  mother" 
implies  among  certain  African  tribes  that 
children  shall  kill  their  parents  when  the 
latter  reach  a  certain  age.  Among  these 
people  life  after  death  is  conceived  as  a 
continuation  of  this  life,  under  somewhat 

improved  conditions,  and  the  parents  wish 

i 


IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 


to  reach  the  next  world  while  still  young 
enough  to  enjoy  it.  Similarly,  among  many 
peoples  "faithful  unto  death"  does  not 
exhaust  the  possibilities  of  marital  fidelity; 
the  widow  is  expected  to  follow  the  husband 
to  the  next  world.  When,  in  1836,  the 
English  governor  of  India  forbade  the  suttee 
(the  practice  of  burning  widows)  a  petition 
was  presented,  signed  by  18,000  persons, 
many  of  them  representing  the  best  families 
of  Calcutta,  requesting  the  revocation  of 
the  edict. 

These  examples  illustrate  the  well-known 
fact  that  different  races  and  nationalities 
attach  values  to  different  things,  and  dif- 
ferent values  to  the  same  thing.  This  is 
the  chief  factor  in  the  problem  of  *' Ameri- 
canization," of  harmonizing  the  life  of  the 
immigrants  with  our  own.  Every  human 
group  has  developed  in  the  course  of  its 
experience  a  certain  fund  of  values  particular 
to  itself  and  a  set  of  attitudes  toward  these 
values.  Thus,  a  poem,  a  folk  dance,  a 
church,  a  school,  a  coin,  is  a  value,  and  the 
appreciation  of  any  one  of  these  objects  is 
an  attitude.  The  object,  the  practice,  the 
institution,  is  the  value;  the  feeling  toward 
it  is  the  attitude.  For  the  purpose  of  the 
present  study  we  call  the  fund  of  attitudes 
and  values  which  an  immigrant  group  brings 

3 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

to  America — the  totality  of  its  sentiments 
and  practices — its  "heritage." 

ILLUSTRATIVE  DOCUMENTS 

We  add  below  some  documents  illustrat- 
ing further  the  variety  of  attitudes  and 
values  which  exist  in  the  world  and  which 
may  be  brought  to  America  as  immigrant 
heritages.  These  are  used  at  this  point 
simply  as  a  concrete  means  of  defining 
heritages.  They  are  not  an  attempt  to 
characterize  the  groups  in  question,  though 
they  necessarily  do  this  to  some  extent.  It 
would  be  possible  to  cite  in  connection  with 
each  group  examples  of  both  good  and  bad 
heritages,  as  we  have  done  in  the  case  of  the 
Chinese. 

1.  When  I  was  five  years  old  I  began  to  go  to 
cheder  [school]  .  .  .  Such  was  my  dihgence  that  I 
went  through  the  sidur  [prayer  book]  and  the  Pen- 
tateuch in  one  winter,  and  I  also  began  to  study 
"Gemorah."  At  six  and  a  half,  my  father  brought 
me  into  the  famous  yeshiba  of  Vilna.  .  .  . 

The  sole  source  of  maintenance  for  almost  all  the 
yeshiba-bahurim  [pupils]  was  the  system  of  "day 
eating,"  at  the  homes  of  some  well-to-do  or  poorer 
members  of  the  community — at  a  different  home 
each  day.  As  a  rule,  the  bahurim  are  not  residents 
of  the  city  where  the  yeshiba  is  situated.  To  main- 
tain them,  each  is  assigned  to  eat  one  day  in  the 

.4 


IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 


week  in  certain  houses;  he  thus  rotates  through 
seven  houses  a  week.  .  .  . 

Reb  Simon  "Long  Robe"  was  the  most  remarkable 
man  among  the  Jews  of  Vilna.  He  dedicated  his 
hfe  work  to  providing  the  poor  bahurim  who  were 
left  without  day  board  with  food  and  other  neces- 
sities. From  early  dawn  to  almost  midnight  he 
would  stand  in  the  "Jewish  street"  with  a  big  col- 
lection box  in  his  hand,  and  collect  donations  for 
"his  children,"  as  he  called  the  yeshiba-bahurim. 
He  drew  his  living  from  working  during  the  night 
hours  as  a  grinder  of  snuff  tobacco  for  a  tobacco 
dealer  of  Vilna.  None  knew  his  birthplace,  nor 
whence  he  came.  .  .  .  He  spoke  to  no  one,  and  to 
all  inquiries  made  no  answer.  Even  the  Christians 
regarded  him  with  the  deepest  respect,  and  deemed 
him  a  holy  man.  ...  So  well  was  Reb  Simon  known 
in  Vilna  that  each  household  that  found  aught  left 
of  the  best  dinner  courses  had  these  remains  carried 
off  at  once  to  the  synagogue  courtyard — to  Reb 
Simon  Kaftan,  who  immediately  distributed  them 
among  the  hungry  yeshiba  youths.^ 

2.  When  I  was  seven  years  of  age  my  father  moved 
his  family  to  Bielostok.  At  that  time  I  left  school 
and  engaged  in  the  reading  of  Russian  novels,  books 
of  travel,  and  of  adventure.  I  remember  to  have 
been  literally  swallowing  these  books,  reading  them 
late  into  nights  and  mornings.  .  .  .  The  gospel  of 
the  class  struggle,  of  the  wronged  proletariat  of  the 
world,  of  the  poverty-stricken  peasants  of  Russia, 
had  already  at  the  age  of  thirteen  absorbed  my  atten- 
tion. The  members  of  the  secret  Central  Commit- 
tee of  the  Bielostok  branch  of  the  Bund  at  this  time 
began  to  use  me  as  a  means  of  carrying  on  their 


'  Eliakum  Zunser,  A  Jewish  Bard,  p.  11  (an  autobiography). 
2  5 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


propaganda.  One  of  the  members  of  the  Committee 
arranged  with  me  to  have  his  secret  organization 
code  mail  sent  to  my  address.  I  used  to  pay  the 
letter  carrier  twenty-five  kopecks  a  month  to  hand 
all  my  mail  to  me  personally,  not  to  leave  it  with 
the  folks  at  home.  .  .  . 

[At  about  fourteen]  I  was  introduced  to  many  of  the 
"workers  in  the  revolutionary  movement,  and  began 
to  take  an  active  part  in  it.  I  attended  illegal  revo- 
lutionary meetings  and  later  assisted  in  organizing 
them.  I  was  reading  and  distributing  illegal  litera- 
ture. I  soon  became  a  leader  among  the  workers. 
My  activities  consisted  in  talking  before  circles  of 
workers  on  the  significance  of  the  class  struggle  and 
the  necessity  of  overthrowing  the  then  Russian  gov- 
ernment. I  remember  distinctly  having  given  a 
number  of  talks  on  the  inefficacy  of  the  "terror" 
as  advocated  by  the  social  revolutionists.  As  a 
member  of  the  Bund  I  did  not  approve  of  the  ter- 
roristic tactics  of  the  social  revolutionists.* 

3.  I  am  a  widow.  My  husband  died  three  years 
ago.  Since  then  I  am  struggling  to  make  a  living  for 
my  family,  which  consists  of  five  children,  the  oldest 
son  being  fifteen  years  old,  and  the  baby  three  and 
a  half. 

I  have  a  store  and  barely  get  along,  for  the  expenses 
are  great.  As  I  am  unable  to  manage  the  house  and 
store  alone,  I  am  obliged  to  employ  a  salesman,  who 
receives  as  much  salary  as  is  necessary  for  our  own 
livelihood. 

If  I  were  to  withdraw  my  son  irom  high  school  I 
could  dispense  with  the  salesman,  but  my  motherly 
love  and  the  duty  toward  the  child  do  not  permit  me 
to  take  that  step,  for  he  is  a  very  good  scholar. 

1  Louis  Bloch,  Autobiography  (manuscript). 

6 


IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 


So,  what  shall  I  do  when  the  struggle  for  existence 
is  so  acute?  I  must  have  his  assistance  in  order  to 
keep  my  business  going  and  take  care  of  the  other 
children;  but  at  the  same  time  I  cannot  definitely 
decide  to  take  him  out  of  school,  for  I  know  that  I 
would  make  him  unhappy,  for  he  has  inclinations  to 
study  and  goes  to  school  dancing.  I  lay  great  hopes 
on  my  child.^ 

4.  ...  I  am  a  son  of  a  [Polish]  peasant  farmer. 
Until  ten  years  of  age  I  did  not  know  the  alphabet, 
or,  exactly  speaking,  I  knew  only  the  letter  B.  Father 
did  not  send  me  to  school.  He  was  always  repeating : 
"We  have  grown  old,  and  we  can't  read  nor  write, 
and  we  live;  so  you,  my  children,  will  also  live  with- 
out knowledge."  .  .  .  Once  my  mother  took  me 
to  church.  I  looked  to  the  right,  a  boy,  smaller 
than  myself,  was  praying  from  a  book;  I  looked  to 
the  left,  another  one  held  a  book  just  like  the  first. 
And  I  stood  between  them  like  a  ninny.  I  went 
home  and  said  to  my  father  that  I  wanted  to  learn 
from  a  book.  And  father  scolded  me,  "And  who 
will  peel  potatoes  in  the  winter,  and  pasture  the 
geese  in  summer?"  Here  I  cried.  .  .  .  Once,  while 
peehng  potatoes,  I  escaped  from  my  father  and 
went  to  an  old  man  who  knew  not  only  how  to 
read,  but  how  to  write  well,  I  asked  him  to 
show  me  [letters]  in  the  primer,  and  he  did  not 
refuse.  I  went  home  and  thought:  "It  is  bad! 
Father  will  probably  give  me  a  licking."  And  so 
it  was.  Father  showered  a  few  strokes  on  me  and 
said:  "Snotty  fellow!  Don't  you  know  that,  as 
old  people  say,  he  who  knows  written  stuff  casts 
himseK  into  hell?"  But  I  used  to  steal  out  to  learn 
more  and  more  frequently.  .  .  . 

*  Forward  (New  York  Yiddish  newspaper).  May  6,  1906. 

7 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


Once  I  found  on  the  road  an  old  almanac.  I 
looked  at  it,  and  I  read  on  the  last  page  that  there 
was  in  Warsaw  a  Gazeta  Swiateczna  which  people 
order  and  receive  it  by  mail  every  Sunday.  After 
that  I  said  to  one  of  the  neighbors,  not  a  young  man, 
"Do  you  know,  in  Warsaw  there  is  a  Gazeta  which 
every  one,  even  if  not  educated,  can  read?"  And 
that  man  said  to  me:  "Look  at  him,  at  the  snotty 
fellow!  He  wants  a  newspaper!"  "Do  you  know, 
Kum"  said  he  to  my  father,  "your  son  will  become 
a  real  lord,  for  he  says  that  he  will  order  a  news- 
paper." "Ho,  ho!"  said  father,  "but  where  will  he 
get  the  money?"  .  .  . 

5.  My  Illustrious  Friend  and  Joy  of  my  Liver  : 
The  thing  which  you  ask  of  me  is  both  difficult 
and  useless.  Although  I  have  passed  all  my  days 
in  this  place,  I  have  neither  counted  the  houses  nor 
inquired  into  the  number  of  the  inhabitants;  and 
as  to  what  one  person  loads  on  his  mules  and  the 
other  stows  away  in  the  bottom  of  his  ship,  that  is  no 
business  of  mine.  But  above  all,  as  to  the  previous 
history  of  this  city,  God  only  knows  the  amount  of 
dirt  and  confusion  that  the  infidels  may  have  eaten 
before  the  coming  of  the  sword  of  Islam.  It  were 
unprofitable  for  us  to  inquire  into  it.  .  .  .  Listen, 
O  my  son!  There  is  no  wisdom  equal  to  the  beUef 
in  God!  He  created  the  world,  and  shall  we  liken 
ourselves  unto  him  in  seeking  to  penetrate  into  the 
mysteries  of  his  creation?  Shall  we  say.  Behold  this 
star  spinneth  around  that  star,  and  this  other  star 
with  a  tail  goeth  and  cometh  in  so  many  years?  Let 
it  go.  He  from  whose  hand  it  came  will  guide  and 
direct  it.  .  .  .  Thou  art  learned  in  the  things  I  care 
not  for,  and  as  for  that  which  thou  hast  seen,  I  spit 

*  Gazeta  Swiateczna  (Warsaw  newspaper),  vol.  18,  no.  31. 

8 


IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 


upon  it.    Will  much  knowledge  create  thee  a  double 
belly,  or  wilt  thou  seek  paradise  with  thine  eyes? 
The  meek  in  spirit, 

Imaxjm  Ali  Zadi.* 

6.  ...  Arson  is  for  the  peasant  something  quite 
natural,  is  a  self-redress,  and  does  not  even  bring  him 
dishonor  in  the  eyes  of  his  peasant  neighbors.  Re- 
ciprocal incendiarism  is  such  a  frequent  manifesta- 
tion of  self-redress  that  it  merits  particular  studies. 
.  .  .  It  is  civil  war.  The  peasant  considers  break- 
ing Lent  a  greater  sin.  To  stop  or  at  least  to  dimin- 
ish the  number  of  arsons  the  bishops  in  Poland  have 
reserved  the  sin  of  putting  fire  to  houses,  barns,  and 
stables  for  themselves — that  is,  an  ordinary  priest 
cannot  remit  the  sin  of  the  incendiary,  but  must 
appeal  to  the  bishop  or  send  the  man  to  the  bishop 
to  confession,  in  the  same  way  as  with  murder.  But 
this  does  not  help  much.  I  would  define  it  as  a,  feud, 
a  way  of  leading  civil  war.  A  peasant  whom  my 
father  reproached  for  having  set  fire  to  his  neighbor's 
buildings  said,  "I  have  set  fire  to  his  barn,  but  he 
could  have  and  still  can  set  fire  to  mine."  ...  I 
have  listened  to  the  confession  of  many  even  respecta- 
ble farmers  who  tried  to  set  fire  to  their  enemies' 
farm  buildings,  only  they  did  not  always  succeed. 
The  variety  of  the  technique  of  arson  is  itself  worth 
studying.  The  motive  is  frequently  the  loss  of  a 
lawsuit,  the  seduction  of  a  woman,  etc.^ 

7.  Otjb  Respected  Catholics  and  Assistants 
TO  THE  Emigrants:  I  beg  you  kindly  to  advise  me 


*  Letter  from  a  Mohammedan  oflScial  to  an  Englishman.  Sir 
Austen  Henry  Layard,  Fresh  Discoveries  of  Ninsvek  and  Researches 
at  Babylon:  Supplement. 

2  Report  of  a  Polish  priest.  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish 
Peasant  in  Europe  and  America,  vol.  iv,  p.  119. 

9 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


in  what  way  I  could  emigrate  to  America  with  my 
family,  for  instance,  with  my  wife  and  four  boys 
from  two  to  fourteen  years.  One  boy,  sixteen  years 
old,  went  to  Argentine  on  May  14th.  I  intend  also 
to  go  and  to  buy  land  there,  because  here  in  Wolyn 
it  is  very  dear;  a  desiatina  [two  acres]  reaches  500 
rubles.  What  can  I  buy  if  I  have  five  boys  and 
only  two  thousand  of  money?  I  could  buy  per- 
haps in  Russia,  but  what  is  the  use  of  it  since 
there  are  no  [Catholic]  churches,  so  my  faith  will 
get  lost.  I  have  heard  meanwhile  that  in  America 
there  are  churches  enough  and  our  faith  will  not 
get  lost.' 

8.  One  of  the  [Sicilian]  characteristics  is  the 
recognition  of  the  principle  of  omertd.  What  do  we 
understand  by  omertd?  Omertd  is  a  moral  code  which 
has  never  been  written,  but  which  is  more  or  less 
instinctively  present  in  all  Sicihans,  in  the  peasant 
as  well  as  in  the  highly  cultivated  city  dweller. 
Indeed  it  is  more  emphasized  in  the  former.  .  .  . 
The  moral  code  of  omertd  demands  firmness,  energy, 
and  seriousness,  a  self-reliant  and  self-conscious  mind 
whose  activities  are  as  far  as  possible  independent 
of  the  civil  authorities.  It  seeks  help  through  one- 
self and  not  through  the  courts  or  pohce.  It  has  that 
quality  of  knightliness  which  characterizes  duelists, 
who  settle  their  differences  between  themselves,  far 
from  the  police  courts.  Revenge  is  accompUshed 
quietly,  imaided,  or  with  the  help  of  trusted  friends.* 

9.  Every  year,  for  the  last  twelve  years,  there 
have  been  from  twelve  to  twenty  murders  committed 


*  Letter  of  a  Polish  peasant  to  the  Emigrants'  Protective  Associ- 
ation of  Warsaw.  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant  in 
Europe  and  America,  vol.  v  (in  press). 

*  G.  Wennert,  Sicilien,  p.  436. 

10 


IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 


in  the  square  half  mile  of  tlie  North  Side  Sicilian 
Settlement  of  Chicago.^ 

The  circumstances  are  nearly  always  the  same. 
The  victim  is  shot  from  ambush,  his  body  riddled 
with  slugs  and  nails  from  a  sawed-o£F  shotgun  or  with 
the  entire  charge  from  a  revolver;  the  weapon  is  foimd 
near  the  body;  there  are  no  witnesses  and  the  mur- 
derer is  never  found.  A  squad  of  police  are  sent 
into  the  district,  premises  in  the  vicinity  are  searched, 
the  wife  or  relatives  of  the  murdered  man  are  taken 
to  the  station  and  sweated,  an  occasional  arrest  is 
made,  but  not  more  than  three  or  four  persons  have 
ever  been  convicted  and  sentenced  for  these  crimes. 
Sometimes  the  victim  is  murdered  in  his  own  home 
and  not  infrequently  two  and  even  three  men  are 
killed  at  the  same  time,^ 

10.  In  Italy  I  live  in  small  town — six,  seven 
thousand.  It  take  not  much  money  to  live.  We 
pay  the  rent  once  a  year,  only  little  money.  We 
have  fine  garden,  we  live  healthy,  happy.  I  obey 
my  mother's  word,  which  is  like  the  God.  The  people 
in  my  town  they  are  serious,  human,  good  heart.  We 
give  everything  to  the  poor.  When  stranger  comes  to 
us,  he  got  always  the  first  chair,  we  make  all  we  could 
for  him.  We  love  the  foreigner,  especially  from  North 
America.  The  people  used  to  go  to  him  and  give  him 
the  welcome.  We  say,  "Oh  he  is  Americano,  he  is 
from  the  land  of  Columbus."  The  stranger  can  stay 
a  year,  he  don't  need  no  money  to  pay  for  anything, 
wherever  he  go  he  got  everything  for  nothing. 

*  The  Chicago  Tribune,  March  17,  1911,  enumerates,  with  some 
details,  thirty-four  murders  of  Italians  in  Chicago  in  a  period  of 
fourteen  months  (January  6,  1910,  to  March  14,  1911),  all  of  them 
"unsolved." 

*  Marie  Leavitt,  Report  on  the  Sicilian  Colong  in  Chicago  (manu* 
script). 

11 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


We  work  little  bit,  then  we  take  the  leisure.  We 
love  very  much  the  music,  art,  poetry.  We  love  the 
poetical  life — poetry  to-day,  and  to-morrow  we  take 
what's  coming  with  the  good  patience.  The  way  I 
mean  is  not  only  to  read  the  books  of  the  great  poets, 
of  Dante  that  we  love  more  than  a  father,  or  Petrarca, 
Ariosoto,  Tasso,  Alfieri,  and  so  many  others  down  to 
Manzoni,  Carducci,  Giusti,  D'Annunzio,  but  the 
poetry  of  the  beautiful  scenery  in  the  country,  the 
poetry  of  the  music,  the  poetry  of  the  friendship. 
Even  in  the  small  town  we  have  band  and  philhar- 
monica.  Not  to  know  the  musical  works  of  Rossini, 
like  "Barbiere  di  Seviglia"  and  "Guglielmo  TeU,"  is 
not  to  know  anything.  We  like  the  music  of  the 
great  Donizetti  and  Bellini  because  they  are  dramatici, 
emotionanti.  We  are  crazy  for  "Norma,"  for  "Lucia 
di  Lammermoor."  They  have  red  blood,  what  the 
Italian  like,  for  the  Itahan  warm  heart.  We  like 
Puccini,  Mascagni.  Verdi,  we  adore  him.  He  was 
welcome  all  over  for  his  wonderful  heart.  He  speak 
the  voice  of  the  people,  in  the  big  romantic  utterance, 
he  speak  fearless  like  a  man,  he  express  oiu:  own 
emotions  by  the  great  genius.  .  . 

11.  Lindsborg  is  the  center  of  a  Swedish  golony 
of  about  forty  square  miles  in  extent.  Its  only  boast 
above  the  neighboring  towns  is  the  presence  of  Beth- 
any College  and  the  annual  musical  event  at  Easter 
time. 

Each  Easter  week  its  people  perform  Handel's 
"  Messiah  "  with  a  chorus  of  five  hundred  voices  and 
an  orchestra  of  forty  pieces.  With  the  exception  of 
the  soloists,  who  now  are  stars  of  the  first  magnitude 

^  Life  history  of  Alessandro  Daluca,  a  tailor  on  the  East  Side  of 
New  York.  Emily  F.  Robbins, "  If  One  Speak  Bad  of  Your  Mother, 
How  You  Feel?"  in  the  Red  Cross  Magazine,  September,  1919. 

12 


IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 


on  the  artistic  firmament,  it  is  entirely  a  home  affair. 
The  membership  of  the  organization  is  made  up  of 
the  merchants,  artisans,  farmers,  and  housewives  of 
the  town  and  surrounding  countryside,  together  with 
the  students  of  the  college.  The  chorus  is  more  than 
thirty  years  old  and  has  given  Handel's  "Messiah" 
eighty-seven  times. 

Among  its  members  there  are  those  who  participated 
in  the  first  performance,  and  it  is  no  uncommon  thing 
for  three  generations  of  the  same  family  to  be  repre- 
sented. From  the  bass  section  more  than  one  grand- 
father hears  the  voices  of  his  daughter  and  grand- 
daughter singing  among  the  sopranos  and  altos. 
One  of  the  unique  features  is  a  children's  chorus  of 
three  hundred,  and  the  exercises  of  the  Messiah 
Week,  as  the  festival  is  popularly  called,  would  be 
quite  incomplete  without  the  concert  by  this  organ- 
ization. Membership  in  it  is  a  distinction  to  which 
every  boy  and  girl  in  the  community  aspires,  and  it 
is  a  red-letter  day  in  the  life  of  the  youthful  musician 
when  for  the  first  time  he  is  permitted  to  appear  as 
a  member  of  the  orchestra  in  a  public  performance 
of  the  oratorio.^ 

12.  The  Finns  have  much  faith  in  co-operative 
establishments  for  the  conduct  of  their  affairs,  as  is 
evidenced  by  the  numerous  co-operative  creameries, 
co-operative  general  merchandise  and  grocery  stores, 
co-operative  savings  banks,  and  other  co-operative 
institutions.  In  1913  there  were  2,167  co-operative 
societies  in  Finland,  with  a  total  membership  of 
196,000.  Into  northeastern  Minnesota  co-operative 
institutions  are  rapidly  finding  their  way.  While 
all  varieties  are  not  yet  represented  there,  they  may 

*  E.  F.  Philblad,  "A  Swedish  Bayreuth  in  Kansas,"  in  American/' 
Scandinavian  Review,  May,  1913. 

13 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


be  found  in  the  Lake  Superior  region  as  a  whole.  Li 
addition,  the  co-operative  hotel  has  grown  to  be  a 
significant  institution.^ 

13.  I,  Ah  Kam,  being  poor  and  not  having  any 
one  on  whom  to  depend,  make  this  agreement,  by 
which  to  obtain  $460  with  my  person.  The  middle 
party  in  this  transaction,  Loui  Fung,  having  intro- 
duced me  to  Lang  Kai,  and  having  the  promise  of  the 
latter  to  pay  this  debt  for  me,  besides  passage  money 
and  other  expenses,  we  three  are  agreed,  and  to-day 
the  transaction  has  taken  place.  Not  a  cent  now  is 
owing  to  Loui  Fung,  the  money  having  actually 
changed  hands,  first  into  the  hands  of  myself.  Ah 
Kam;  and  I  am  this  day  handed  over  to  Lang  Kai, 
to  be  taken  to  California  for  immoral  purposes.  The 
time  of  service  is  agreed  to  be  four  and  one  half  years, 
with  no  pay  for  the  service  on  the  one  hand  and  no 
interest  for  the  money  on  the  other.  Fourteen  days 
of  sickness  will  not  be  taken  notice  of,  but  fifteen 
days  of  sickness  will  have  to  be  made  up  by  serving 
another  month.  In  case  of  pregnancy  an  additional 
year  has  to  be  served.  As  to  any  expected  calamities 
happening  that  may  happen  to  anyone,  that  will  be 
left  to  the  decree  of  heaven.  ShoiJd  I  upon  arrival 
at  California  attempt  to  escape,  or  refuse  to  be  a 
prostitute,  I  agree  irrevocably  that  Lang  Kai  should 
sell  me  to  another  at  pleasure. 

Lest  word  of  mouth  should  not  be  proof,  this  instrU' 
ment  is  drawn  up  to  be  such. 

Ah  Kam  (her  mark). 

October  1, 1899.^ 

'  Eugene  van  Cleef,  "The  Finn  in  America,"  in  Geographical 
Review,  vol.  vi,  p.  199. 

2  Translation  of  a  bill  of  sale  of  a  Chinese  girl,  drawn  up  in  the 
form  of  a  promissory  note.  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Industrial  Commis- 
sion (1901),  vol.  XV,  p.  771. 

14 


IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 


14.  [Sister]  died  last  Thursday  morning  at  eight. 
We  did  not  expect  it  nor  in  the  least  could  have 
dreamed  it.  About  three  weeks  ago  she  took  a  bad 
cold  when  she  went  to  Fresno.  .  .  .  [Description 
of  sickness].  She  was  conscious  to  the  end  and  very 
cheerful,  as  she  always  was.  I  won't  try  to  tell  you 
how  we  miss  her  or  how  we  have  lived  since.  You 
and  she  never  got  on  together,  but  you  must  have 
known  that  she  was  better  in  every  way  than  us  girls 
[herself  and  her  sister].  Her  music  teacher  said  she 
had  the  finger  relaxation  which  the  greatest  artists 
succeed  in  teaching  only  after  years  of  work.  She 
was  the  only  Chinese  girl  who  could  sing  well.  She 
had  mamma's  entertaining  ways  and  she  would  have 
become  a  beauty.  She  was  so  popular  because  of 
her  wit,  and  then  she  had  to  die.  I  must  not  let  any 
complaining  note  come  into  me,  because  she  would  not 
have  Uked  it.  We  try  to  think  how  beautifully  she 
died  and  how  troublesome  a  world  she  escaped.  It 
should  comfort  us,  but  it  doesn't.  We  buried  her 
beside  my  older  brother  on  Friday.  The  flowers 
were  far  more  beautiful  than  anyone  had  ever  seen. 
It  was  all  as  beautiful  as  such  things  are  possible. 
The  whole  thing  is  almost  breaking  mamma's  and 
papa's  heart.  She  was  their  baby.  My  head  is 
topsy-turvy  so  I  can't  remember  what  I  have  said 
and  what  I  have  not.  Will  you  give  the  details  to 
those  [her  cousins]  in  China?   We  can't.^ 

15.  Osman  Assen  .  .  .  said  to  the  judge  who 
questioned  him:  "Recently  I  was  at  the  border 
buying  giraffe  skins  to  make  shields.  About  a  month 
ago  I  returned  and  my  wife  informed  me  that  our 
daughter  Fatma,  still  a  young  girl,  was  pregnant.  I 

^  Letter  from  a  Chinese  girl,  partly  Americanized.  Written  in 
English  (manuscript). 

15 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


was  greatly  displeased  and  had  no  peace  during  a 
whole  night  and  a  whole  day.  Li  the  evening  I  told 
my  daughter  to  come  and  help  me  fetch  some  fodder 
and  wood,  and  had  her  mount  upon  the  ass,  .  .  . 
[In  a  retired  spot]  I  made  her  dismount  from  the  ass. 
I  threw  her  on  the  ground  first  and  tried  to  strangle 
her,  then  seeing  that  this  did  not  succeed,  with  a 
quick  pressure  against  her  head  I  broke  her  neck. 
Before  throwing  her  on  the  ground  I  said:  'Think 
on  what  you  have  done.  I  have  brought  you  here  to 
kill  you.'  She  answered:  *I  know  I  have  done 
wrong.    I  am  in  your  hands  and  God's.' 

"After  I  had  killed  my  daughter  I  set  about  digging 
the  grave,  and  two  of  my  cousins  joined  me,  whom 
I  had  asked  to  follow  and  assist  with  the  burial.  .  .  . 
Before  killing  her  I  asked  my  daughter  who  had 
seduced  her,  but  she  would  not  say.  When  I  returned 
I  informed  my  wife  that  I  had  done  what  I  had  said 
I  would  do,  and  what  is  prescribed  in  oiu*  customs 
to  do.    Now  I  am  sorry  for  what  I  did." 

[Questioned,  the  mother  said:]  "My  daughter 
was  killed  by  my  husband  because,  marriageable, 
she  became  pregnant.  When  my  husband  returned 
I  informed  him  of  what  had  happened.  He  assured 
himself  of  the  girl's  condition  and  then  decided  to 
kill  her  according  to  our  custom."  ^ 

EESULTING  ANTAGONISMS 

Some  of  the  attitudes  represented  by  the 
above  examples  of  immigrant  heritages  are 
those  which  we  ourselves  have  or  under- 

1 "  Documenti  criminalogici,"  Archivio  di  antropologia  criminale 
psichiatria  e  medicina  legale,  vol.  xxxvii,  p.  71. 

16 


IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 


stand.  The  Jewish  devotion  to  learning 
(document  1)  is  among  these.  At  the  same 
time  this  case  may  be  used  to  illustrate  a 
general  principle.  The  role  which  a  given 
attitude  is  able  to  play  in  an  immigrant 
group  in  America  is  never  the  same  as  the 
one  it  played  at  home.  Jewish  learning 
as  it  was  pursued  in  Russia — that  is,  as  a 
distinction,  an  artistic,  religious  occupation 
— may  lead  to  maladjustment  in  America. 
On  the  contrary,  the  same  attitude  applied 
to  a  different  kind  of  learning  may  lead  to 
a  superior  intellectual  status  for  the  whole 
group  in  America;  or,  the  attitude  may 
continue  to  be  an  organizing  force,  but  in 
a  different  field  of  application.  The  three 
documents  following  illustrate  this  point. 

16.  I  am  forty-five  years  old,  born  in  a  little  town 
in  Russia,  where  my  parents  brought  me  up  in  a 
respectable  way.  I  studied  the  Talmud  and  the 
Jewish  laws  until  I  was  thirteen  years  old,  and,  being 
industrious,  I  drew  the  attention  of  a  wealthy  man 
who  had  only  one  daughter  and  I  became  a  bride- 
groom .  .  .  and  a  "board-child"  in  my  father-in- 
law's  home,  where  I  continued  to  study  the  Talmud 
for  my  mother-in-law's  sake  and  general  science  for 
my  own  sake,  to  be  prepared  for  the  examinations. 

[Became  a  merchant.  The  pogroms  followed. 
Came  to  America.  Began  teaching  in  a  Hebrew 
Free  School.]  But  my  teaching  is  very  tiresome 
because  the  children  do  not  want  to  know  the  things 

17 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


they  are  taught  in  the  Hebrew  school,  which  is  a  hovel 
• — btoken  benches  and  cobwebs  on  the  ceiling — and 
they  have  no  respect  for  the  school  when  they  come 
from  the  beautiful,  modern  public  school,  and  they 
also  do  not  respect  the  Jewish  teachings,  that  are 
really  not  for  them — like  the  fine  books  of  Moses 
and  translations  from  the  prayers.  .  .  . 

So,  again  I  thought:  "What  can  I  do  to  give  up  my 
position  as  Hebrew  teacher?"  I  took  a  course  on 
how  to  make  eyeglasses  and  secured  a  diploma  from 
a  college  as  Doctor  of  Optics.  Unfortunately  it  is  a 
business  that  requires  peddling  with  eyeglasses  from 
house  to  house,  and  I  cannot  do  that  imder  any  cir- 
cumstances. So  a  druggist  advised  me  to  go  to  work 
in  a  drug  store,  where  after  two  years  I  can  get  an 
assistant's  license  and  earn  fifteen  dollars  a  week,  and 
remain  in  the  drug  store  for  three  more  years  and 
become  a  registered  druggist  and  open  a  store  for 
myself.  I  went  to  work  in  a  drug  store  and  then 
the  orthodox  officials  found  it  out  and  I  was  dis- 
charged from  my  position  in  the  Hebrew  Free 
School.^ 

17.  It  has  been  ascertained  that  the  Russian 
Jews,  in  spite  of  their  comparative  poverty,  send 
more  of  their  children  to  the  high  schools  of  this  city, 
and  permit  them  to  stay  there  longer,  than  any  other 
ethnic  group.  It  is  common  knowledge  that  more 
than  three-fourths  of  the  pupils  in  the  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York  are  children  of  eastern  European 
Jews.2 

18.  In  many  cases  the  rise  [of  the  Jew]  to  social 
position  through  wealth  is  merely  a  recuperation  of 

>  Forward,  March  26,  1915. 

*  Alexander  M.  Dushkin,  Jevdsh  Education  in  New  York  City, 


IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 


status  previously  enjoyed  [in  Europe]  by  dint  of 
reputation  for  learning.^ 

But  many  of  the  cases  just  cited  impress 
us  as  strange  and  disturbing,  as  having  no 
place  at  all  in  our  scheme  of  life.  We  must 
remember,  however,  that  strangeness  itself 
may  be  a  source  of  displeasure  and  prejudice. 
The  un-American  shoes  and  un-American 
beard  of  the  immigrant  arouse  these  emotions 
in  us.  (See  documents  35,  p.  48,  and  38, 
p.  49.)  In  general,  any  practice  which  is 
not  customary,  which  is  not  in  our  code,  is 
shocking.  Thus  we  customarily  carry  food 
to  the  mouth  with  the  fork  and  the  use  of 
the  knife  for  this  purpose  affects  us  unpleas- 
antly, although  the  fork  seems  to  have  no 
natural  superiority  for  this  purpose.  Smack- 
ing with  the  lips  when  eating  produces 
disgust  in  us,  but  the  Indian,  logically 
enough,  smacks  as  a  compliment  to  his  host. 

In  addition  to  strangeness,  the  shock  of 
these  examples  is  often  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  excite  our  moral  disapproval.  But 
even  so,  the  worst  of  these  practices  are  not 
entirely  foreign  to  our  experience.  A  "code 
of  honor,"  which  had  the  same  spirit  as  the 
Italian  vendetta  (documents  8,  p.  10,  and 
9,  p.  10),  was  some  generations  ago  held  in 

*  I.  B.  Berkson,  Assimilation:  A  Critical  Study,  vrith  Particular 
Reference  to  the  Jeudsh  Group  (in  press). 

19 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


the  greatest  esteem  by  all  "gentlemen"  of 
the  Western  World  and  did  not  become 
entirely  strange  to  us  until  the  past  century: 

In  the  eight  years  between  1601  and  1609  two 
thousand  men  of  noble  birth  fell  in  duels  in  France; 
and,  according  to  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury,  who 
was  ambassador  at  this  court  of  Louis  XIII,  there 
was  scarce  a  Frenchman  worth  looking  on  who  had 
not  killed  his  man  in  a  duel.^ 

The  cases  of  Hamilton  and  Burr,  Jackson 
and  Dickinson,  represent  this  spirit  in 
American  history. 

Document  13  illustrates  the  Oriental  form 
of  "white  slavery."  The  situation  is  thus 
not  entirely  unfamiliar  to  us,  but  it  is 
peculiarly  shocking  because  the  naive  and 
explicit  procedure  creates  the  impression 
that  the  girl  is  from  the  beginning  a  voluntary 
participant,  and  that  the  practice  is  normal 
for  this  group.  It  is,  in  fact,  normal  in 
China,  under  certain  conditions  and  in  a 
certain  class.  It  may  even  be  regarded  as 
meritorious,  if  undertaken  by  the  girl  for 
the  benefit  of  her  family.  Our  moral  supe- 
riority in  this  case  lies  in  the  fact  that  we 
expect  and  usually  find  in  the  white  slave 
a  consciousness  of  guilt  which  is  here  lacking. 

*  E.  Westemarck,  Origin  and  Development  of  the  Moral  Ideas,  vol. 
i.  p.  508. 

20 


IMMIGRANT  HERITAGES 


(Society  wishes  to  forgive  and  restore  an 
erring  member,  but  it  is  not  able  to  do  this 
in  the  absence  of  that  shame  which  leads  to 
repentance.) 

Document  15  shows  another  Oriental 
(Mohammedan)  attitude,  one  which  we 
have  had  and  have,  but  never  so  completely. 
It  is  only  a  thoroughgoing  repudiation  of 
the  girl  who  goes  wrong. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  immigrant  finds 
here  strange,  unexpected,  and  inconsistent 
situations.  We  are  usually  not  well  ac- 
quainted with  our  slums — housing  condi- 
tions, where  three,  five,  seven,  nine  families 
share  the  same  toilet  room,^  the  sweatshop, 
and  the  general  industrial  system — or  we 
do  not  think  of  them  often,  but  they  are 
totally  different  from  the  rural  life  of  Europe, 
and  impress  the  immigrant  in  cities  pain- 
fully. Some  of  the  foreign-language  news- 
papers in  America,  especially  the  Italian 
(as  a  retort  to  our  condemnation  of  the 
Black  Hand),  constantly  seek  to  find  in 
America  phases  of  life  as  bad  as  any  we  can 
attribute  to  the  immigrant  groups  they 
represent: 

19,  Now  and  then  the  Black  Hand  of  the  Amer- 
icans appears.  .  .  .  The  payments  of  tribute  to  the 

*  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  xxvi,  p.  466. 
3  21 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


police  .  .  .  the  protection  by  the  police  of  individuals 
in  the  mala  vita  [criminals  and  prostitutes],  .  .  .  the 
sale  of  liquor  and  cocaine  clandestinely  and  known 
to  the  police — all  this  graft  stinks  of  the  Camorra,  the 
Mafia — i.e.,  the  Black  Hand.  .  .  .  The  American 
Black  Hand  is  as  well  organized  as  the  Italian.^ 

Frequently  the  displeasure  excited  by 
American  conditions  (often  not  really  Amer- 
ican conditions,  but  immigrant  conditions  in 
America)  is  very  violent: 

20.  ...  In  their  feelings  toward  the  Americans 
the  Russians,  judging  by  the  collected  data,  may  be 
divided  into  three  groups — those  who  have  learned 
to  love  and  esteem  the  Americans;  those  who  are 
indifiFerent  toward  them;  and  the  incensed  haters 
of  Americans. 

Those  who  esteem  the  Americans  all  write  that  at 
first  they  "did  not  like  them."  A  visiting  teacher 
opened  one's  eyes  to  "the  real  meaning  of  Yankee"; 
another  learned  to  love  Americans  for  their  great  will 
power,  "the  thing  that  we  Slavs  lack  so  much";  the 
third  one  became  attached  to  the  Americans  for  their 
great  tolerance  and  respect  toward  an  opponent  in 
politics  and  religion,  etc. 

Those  who  are  "indifferent,"  write  that  the  Amer- 
icans simply  do  not  interest  them.  The  Americans 
whom  they  meet  are  a  harsh  and  not  always  a  just 
people.  They  are  like  machine  men  and  "do  not 
appreciate"  good  craftsmen.  Sometimes  it  is  a 
factory  foreman,  sometimes  it  is  a  house  owner,  who 
does  not  mind  molesting  his  tenants,  and,  "when 

1  Bollettino  delta  Sera  (New  York),  December  31, 1910. 
22 


imnGRANT  HERITAGES 


the  Russian  soul  goes  a-merry,"  it  is  a  policeman 
with  a  none  too  soft  club,  and  then  the  judge,  who, 
"expressionless,"  pronounces  between  his  teeth, 
"Three,  five,  ten  dollars  fine." 

The  "haters"  of  Americans  are  incensed  by  their 
compulsory  loneliness;  they  are  men  whose  souls 
are  hidden  from  Americans,  as  the  Americans'  souls 
are  unknown  to  them.  They  are  the  great  numbers 
of  immigrants  who  five  in  America  their  old  Russian 
life,  only  without  the  soothing  eflFect  of  the  Russian 
rivers,  steppes,  and  the  great  Russian  forests.  It 
is  a  soulless,  a  stifling  "American  Russia,"  and  they 
soon  feel  themselves  in  a  new  "prison."  They  work 
in  shops  that  belong  to  foreigners  like  themselves, 
reside  in  immigrant  neighborhoods,  and  are  separated 
as  if  by  a  mountain  from  American  thought,  American 
social  life,  and  American  struggles.  The  "America" 
they  Uve  in  is  suppressing  their  spirits,  and  they 
cannot  see  behind  the  walls  of  their  free  prison  the 
genuine  America. 

And  sometimes  tragical,  sometimes  comical  are 
their  complaints:  "America  is  the  most  mean  and 
\'ile  coimtry,"  writes  a  laborer  by  the  name  of 
Terenty,  "  and  I  will  try  to  light  the  fire  of  hate  toward 
Americans  in  every  corner  of  Russia."  He  lived  in 
America  for  six  years,  but  during  that  time  the 
"Americans"  he  came  in  contact  with  were  immi- 
grants Uke  himself,  who  sometimes  exploited  and 
mistreated  him.  A  laborer  from  Ohio,  without  any 
evident  attempt  to  be  gay,  writes:  "We  have  here 
too  many  Americans.  I  worked  in  other  places,  and 
have  seen  ordy  a  few  of  them.  But  here  wherever 
you  go  you  see  Americans,  and  they  look  upon  you 
as  if  you  were  a  low  thing  and  they  were  great  men. 
I  hate  them!" 

23 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


Only  one  of  those  "haters"  displayed  some  humor, 
saying:  "The  Americans  are  a  bad  people.  You 
speak  to  them  the  plainest  Russian  language,  and 
you  even  add  a  word  or  two  of  English  for  their 
benefit,  and  still  they  do  not  understand  a  thing!" 

The  main  difficulty  in  the  relations  between  Russian 
immigrants  and  Americans  is  that  there  are  almost 
no  such  relations.  .  . 

The  first  contacts  between  Americans  and 
immigrants  produce,  therefore,  a  degree  of 
j  antagonism,  owing  to  the  element  of  strange- 
I  ness  and  to  the  different  degree  of  moral 
i  worth  attached  to  given  values,  as  viewed 
(  by  Americans,  on  the  one  hand,  and  by 
'  immigrants,  on  the  other.    The  antagonism 
produced  by  mere  strangeness  is  of  course 
in  the  region  of  pure  prejudice,  and  has  no 
more  moral  significance  than  the  displeasure 
produced  by  a  fashion  of  dress  or  a  code  of 
etiquette  differing  from  the  one  to  which 
we  are  habituated,  but  this  mutual  prejudice 
is,  nevertheless,  as  we  shall  see,  one  of  the 
most  serious  hindrances  to  the  assimilation 
of  the  immigrant. 

^  Mark  Villchur,  "The  Russian  Immigrants  and  the  Americans" 
Russkoye  Sloco  (New  York  newspaper),  June  10,  1919.  The  article 
was  based  on  replies  received  to  a  questionnaire  printed  in  this 
paper  at  our  request. 


n 


HERITAGES  AND  HUMAN  WISHES 

The  attitudes  examined  in  the  last  chapter 
were  typical  for  the  given  groups — that  is, 
they  were  found  to  be  prevalent  in  a  large 
number  of  cases.  About  5,000  documents 
were  examined  for  the  Jewish  group,  about 
15,000  for  the  Polish,  and  fewer  for  the 
other  groups.  But  while  they  were  useful 
as  a  means  of  defining  heritages  and  the 
problem  of  assimilation,  neither  an  indi- 
vidual nor  a  group  can  be  characterized  by 
an  enumeration  of  attitudes  taken  at  random. 
What  distinguishes  societies  and  individuals 
is  the  predominance  of  certain  attitudes  over 
others,  and  this  predominance  depends,  as  we 
shall  see  below,  on  the  type  of  organization 
which  the  group  has  developed  to  regulate  the 
expression  of  the  wishes  of  its  members. 

The  individual  has  wishes  which  can  be 
realized  only  in  association  with  other 
human  beings,  but  when  human  beings 
come  together  there  is  a  conflict  of  wishes. 
Consequently  every  man  cannot  have  ab- 

25 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


solutely  what  he  wants,  but  must  modify, 
qualify,  and  regulate  the  expression  of  his 
wishes.  The  organization  of  society  has 
always  a  double  character :  it  makes  possible 
the  gratification  of  the  individual's  wishes, 
and  even  the  multiplication  of  them,  but  at 
the  same  time  it  requires  that  his  wishes  shall 
be  gratified  only  in  usual  ways,  that  their  ex- 
pression shall  be  so  regulated  as  not  to  inter- 
fere unfairly  with  the  expression  of  the  wishes 
of  others.  All  standards  of  behavior,  all 
moral  and  legal  codes,  all  penalties  for  dis- 
order and  crime,  all  appreciations  and  re- 
wards which  a  society  bestows  on  a  deserving 
member,  are  expressions  of  this  effort  to  live 
together. 

The  factor  of  individual  temperament 
prevents  men  from  behaving  identically — 
certain  wishes  predominate  in  given  indi- 
viduals— but  it  is  the  social  organization 
under  which  men  live  that  mainly  deter- 
mines the  behavior  inspired  in  them  by 
their  wishes.  We  can,  therefore,  gain  a 
better  imderstanding  of  the  heritages  of  the 
immigrant  groups — why  they  behave  in 
given  ways,  why  they  bring  the  heritages 
which  they  do  bring — by  examining  briefly 
the  nature  of  the  human  wishes  and  the 
form  of  social  organization  which  controls 
the  wishes  of  our  immigrants  at  home. 

26 


HERITAGES  AND  HUMAN  WISHES 

While  the  concrete  wishes  are  very  numer- 
ous, they  all  fall  under  one  or  more  of  four 
types  or  patterns:  (1)  the  desire  for  new 
experience;  (2)  the  desire  for  security;  (3) 
the  desire  for  response;  and  (4)  the  desire 
for  recognition.^ 


FOUR  FUNDAMENTAL  WISHES 

Under  the  desire  for  new  experience  we 
class  the  tendency  to  gratify  the  physical 
appetites,  to  secure  stimulations  and  sensa- 
tions, and  to  seek  their  repetition.  In  its 
pure  form  the  desire  for  new  experience 
results  in  motion,  change,  danger,  instability, 
social  irresponsibility.  It  is  seen  in  simple 
forms  in  the  prowling  and  meddling  activities 
of  the  child,  and  the  love  of  adventure  and 
travel  in  the  boy  and  man.  It  ranges  in 
moral  quality  from  the  pursuit  of  game  and 
the  pursuit  of  pleasure  to  the  piu-suit  of 
knowledge  and  the  pursuit  of  ideals.  It  is 
found  equally  in  the  vagabond  and  the 
scientific  explorer.  Gambling  is  a  form  of 
it,  and  it  enters  into  business  enterprise. 
Novels,  theaters,  motion  pictures,  etc.,  are 
means  of  satisfying  this  desire  vicariously, 
and  their  popularity  is  a  sign  of  its  elemental 

*  See  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant,  methodological 
note  to  vol.  i  and  introduction  to  vol.  iii. 

27 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


force.  The  individual  who  is  dominated 
by  this  desire  shows  a  tendency  to  disregard 
prevaihng  standards  and  group  interests. 
He  may  be  a  complete  failure,  on  account 
of  his  instability ;  or  he  may  be  a  conspicuous 
success,  if  he  converts  his  experiences  into 
social  values,  puts  them,  for  instance,  in 
the  form  of  a  poem,  makes  from  them  a 
contribution  to  science. 

The  desire  for  security  is  opposed  to  the 
desire  for  new  experience.  It  implies  avoid- 
ance of  danger  and  death — caution,  conserv- 
atism. Incorporation  in  an  organization 
(family,  community,  state)  provides  the 
greatest  security.  We  shall  notice  later 
that  this  desire  shapes  the  organization  of 
the  peasants  of  Europe,  which  our  immigrant 
groups  represent.  In  the  peasant  group 
behavior  is  predetermined  for  the  individual 
by  tradition.  He  is  secure  as  long  as  the 
group  organization  is  secure,  without  the 
exercise  of  personal  originality  or  creative- 
ness;  and  security  means  not  only  physical 
security,  but  a  secure  economic  and  social 
position,  without  apprehension  of  disturbing 
change. 

The  desire  for  response  is  a  craving  for 
the  more  intimate  and  preferential  appre- 
ciation of  others.  It  is  exemplified  in  mother 
love,  romantic  love,  family  affection,  and 

28 


HERITAGES  AND  HUMAN  WISHES 


other  personal  attachments.  Homesickness 
and  loneliness  are  expressions  of  it. 

The  desire  for  recognition  expresses  itself 
in  devices  for  securing  distinction  in  the 
eyes  of  the  public.  A  list  of  these  devices 
would  be  very  long.  It  would  include 
courageous  behavior,  ostentatious  ornament 
and  dress,  displays  of  opinions  and  knowl- 
edge, the  cultivation  of  special  attainments, 
in  the  arts,  for  example.  This  wish  is 
expressed  alike  in  arrogance  and  in  humility, 
even  in  martyrdom.  The  "will  to  power" 
is  one  phase  of  it.  Certain  modes  of  seeking 
recognition  we  define  as  "vanity,"  others 
as  "ambition."  Many  of  the  devices  used 
for  securing  recognition  are  also  used  for 
securing  response. 

There  is,  of  course,  a  kaleidoscopic  mingling 
of  wishes  throughout  life,  and  a  single  given 
act  may  contain  several  of  them.  Thus,  when 
a  peasant  emigrates  to  America  he  may  expect 
to  have  a  good  time  and  learn  many  things 
(new  experience),  to  make  a  fortune  (greater 
security),  to  have  a  higher  social  standing 
on  his  return  (recognition),  and  to  induce  a 
certain  person  to  marry  him  (response). 

PRIMITIVE  REGULATION  OF  WISHES 

^  Now  the  simplest  attempts  to  regulate  the 
wishes  have   always   and   everywhere — in 

29 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


savage  as  well  as  civilized  societies — taken 
the  form  of  what  is  called  a  "primary- 
group"  organization,  and  our  immigrants, 
except  for  the  few  professionals  and  intel- 
lectuals among  them,  lived  at  home  under 
this  general  system.^ 

"By  primary  groups  I  mean  those  characterized 
by  intimate  face-to-face  association  and  co-operation. 
They  are  primary  in  several  senses,  but  chiefly  in  that 
they  are  fundamental  in  forming  the  social  nature 
and  ideals  of  the  individual.  The  result  of  intimate 
association,  psychologically,  is  a  certain  fusion  of 
individualities  in  a  common  whole,  so  that  one's  very 
self,  for  many  purposes  at  least,  is  the  common  life 
and  purpose  of  the  group.  Perhaps  the  simplest  way 
of  describing  this  wholeness  is  by  saying  that  it  is  a 
'we';  it  involves  the  sort  of  sympathy  and  mutual 
identification  for  which  'we'  is  the  natural  expression. 
One  Uves  in  the  feeling  of  the  whole  and  finds  the 
chief  aims  of  his  will  in  that  feeling."  ^ 

The  obvious  value  of  this  type  of  organi- 
zation is  that  it  gives  solidarity  and  secur- 
ity to  the  group;  that  through  group-wise 
action  the  interests  of  all  are  best  secured  in 
the  struggle  against  hunger,  cold,  enemies, 
pestilence,  and  death.    It  is  not  a  rational 

'  The  Jew  differs  indeed  from  the  members  of  the  agricultural 
communities  which  furnish  the  bulk  of  the  remaining  immigration, 
but  the  Jew  lives  in  fact  imder  a  double  system.  He  has  a  primary 
group  organization  connected  with  his  family  and  the  sjTiagogue 
and  at  the  same  time  maintains  individualized  trade  relations. 

2  C.  H.  Cooley,  Social  Organization,  p.  23. 

30 


HERITAGES  AND  HUMAN  WISHES 


form  of  association;  it  is  customary,  and  it 
is  capable  of  assuming  the  fixity  of  animal 
behavior  represented  in  the  herd.  Every 
value,  every  standard  of  behavior  that  is 
fixed  by  tradition,  becomes  absolute  and 
assumes  a  sacred  character.  Every  member 
is  expected  to  conform  and  failure  to  con- 
form produces  violent  emotions  in  both  the 
group  and  the  stubborn  member.  In  his 
volume  on  the  South  Slavs,  Krauss  has 
given  some  striking  examples  of  the  struggles 
of  the  group  with  the  nonconformist. 

21.  ...  Unanimity  prevails  as  a  rule,  but  it  also 
happens  that  when  the  question  is  put  by  the  domacin, 
all  except  one  may  agree  to  a  motion,  but  the  motion 
is  never  carried  if  that  one  refuses  to  agree  to  it.  In 
such  cases  all  endeavor  to  talk  over  and  persuade 
the  stiflF-necked  one.  Often  they  even  call  to  their 
aid  his  wife,  his  children,  his  relatives,  his  father-in- 
law,  and  his  mother,  that  they  may  prevail  upon 
him  to  say  "y^s."  Then  all  assail  him,  and  say  to 
him  from  time  to  time,  "Come  now,  God  help  you, 
agree  with  us  too,  that  this  may  take  place  as  we 
wish  it,  that  the  house  may  not  be  cast  into  disorder, 
that  we  may  not  be  talked  about  by  the  people,  that 
the  neighbors  may  not  hear  of  it,  that  the  world  may 
not  make  sport  of  us!"  It  seldom  occurs  in  such 
cases  that  unanimity  is  not  attained !  ^ 

In  another  case  a  member  who  has  been 
for  a  time  away  from  the  commune  and 

1  Friedrich  S.  Krauss,  Sitte  und  Brauch  der  Siidslaven,  p.  103. 
31 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


wishes  to  take  advantage  of  the  state  law 
regarding  inheritance  of  property,  which 
differs  from  the  communal  practice,  is  with- 
ered by  the  indignation  of  the  villagers. 
They  tell  him  he  has  lost  his  reason,  and 
eventually  he  claims  this  also  and  asks 
forgiveness : 

22.  [The  village.l  Some  strange  sin  is  leading 
you  into  an  abyss,  and  has  brought  you  into  conflict 
with  the  villagers,  your  brothers.  .  .  .  Woe  to  the 
brother  without  a  brother!  .  .  .  The  village  is 
always  stronger  than  the  bear.  .  .  .  Shake  off  those 
strange  thoughts  and  strange  clothes. 

[Nikola:]  Truly,  brothers,  how  shall  I  answer  you? 
I  see  myself  that  I  have  lost  my  reason  and  have 
sinned  against  God  and  against  you.  And  I  have 
mainly  injured  myself  by  my  wanderings  about  the 
world.  ^ 

23.  In  the  discussion  of  some  question  by  the 
mir  [organization  of  neighbors]  there  are  no  speeches, 
no  debates,  no  votes.  They  shout,  they  abuse  one 
another— they  seem  on  the  point  of  coming  to  blows; 
apparently  they  riot  in  the  most  senseless  manner. 
Some  one  preserves  silence,  and  then  suddenly  puts 
in  a  word,  one  word,  or  an  ejaculation,  and  by  this 
word,  this  ejaculation,  he  turns  the  whole  thing 
upside  down.  In  the  end,  you  look  into  it  and  find 
that  an  admirable  decision  has  been  formed  and, 
what  is  most  important,  a  unanimous  decision.  .  .  . 
[In  the  division  of  land]  the  cries,  the  noise  the 


*  Friedrich  S.  Krauss,  Sitte  und  Brauch  der  Sudslaven,  pp.  287-291, 
32 


HERITAGES  AND  HUMAN  WISHES 


hubbub  do  not  subside  until  everyone  is  satisfied 
and  no  doubter  is  left.^ 

The  example  cited  above  from  a  Moham- 
medan family  in  North  Africa  (document 
15),  where  a  father  kills  his  daughter  as  a 
matter  of  course,  and  the  mother  and  rela- 
tives participate  as  a  matter  of  course,  and 
the  girl  acquiesces  as  a  matter  of  course, 
represents  the  primary  group  when  the 
organization  is  working  smoothly.^  The  fol- 
lowing documents  describe  various  "primary 
organizations." 

24,  The  Polish  peasant  family,  in  the  primary 
and  larger  sense  of  the  word,  is  a  social  group  includ- 
ing all  the  blood — and  law — relatives  up  to  a  certain 
variable  limit — usually  the  fourth  degree.  The 
family  in  the  narrower  sense,  including  only  the 
married  pair  with  their  children,  may  be  termed  the 

1  A.  N.  Engelgardt,  Iz  Derevni:  12  Pisem  (From  the  Country: 
12  letters),  p.  315. 

2  We  must  mention,  however,  that  the  community  does  not 
determine  the  character  of  its  members  as  completely  as  these 
instances  would  indicate.  It  gives  the  member  those  attitudes 
which  are  necessary  to  the  common  life,  but  outside  of  these  he 
may  be  individualistic,  even  obstinate  and  incalcidable : 

"I  have  many  times  pointed  to  the  strong  development  of  indi- 
vidualism in  the  peasants,  to  their  separateness  in  action,  their 
inability,  or  rather,  their  unwillingness  to  combine  economically 
for  a  common  cause.  .  .  .  Some  investigators  even  suppose  that 
it  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  peasantry  to  act  together  in  any 
matter.  .  .  .  Indeed,  to  do  a  thing  together,  in  a  lump,  as  the 
peasants  say.  to  do  it  so  that  each  part  cannot  be  reckoned  up,  is 
repugnant  to  the  peasants."  ^ 

'Engelgardt,  ibid.,  p.  374. 

33 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


"marriage-group."  .  .  .  The  fundamental  .  .  .  con- 
nection .  .  .  may  be  termed  "familial  solidarity," 
and  manifests  itself  both  in  assistance  rendered  to, 
and  in  control  exerted  over,  any  members  of  the 
group  by  any  other  member  representing  the  group 
as  a  whole.  .  .  .  The  familial  relation  between  two 
members  admits  no  gradation,  as  does  love  or  friend- 
ship. .  .  .  Husband  and  wife  are  not  individuals 
more  or  less  closely  connected  according  to  their 
personal  sentiments,  but  group  members  .  .  .  con- 
trolled by  both  the  united  families.  Therefore  the 
marriage  norm  is  not  love,  but  "respect,"  as  the  rela- 
tion which  can  be  controlled  and  reinforced  by  the 
family,  and  which  corresponds  also  exactly  to  the 
situation  of  the  other  party  as  member  of  a  group 
and  representing  the  dignity  of  that  group.  .  .  . 

In  all  the  relations  between  parents  and  children 
the  familial  organization  leaves  no  place  for  merely 
personal  affection.  Certainly  this  affection  exists, 
but  it  cannot  express  itself  in  socially  sanctioned 
acts.  .  .  .  The  behavior  of  the  parents  toward  the 
children  .  .  .  must  be  determined  exclusively  by 
their  situations  as  family  members,  not  by  individual 
merits  or  preference.  .  .  .  Thus,  the  parents,  usually 
prefer  one  child  to  the  others,  but  this  preference 
should  be  based  upon  a  familial  superiority.  The 
preferred  child  is  usually  the  one  who  for  some  reason 
is  to  take  the  parental  farm  (the  oldest  son  in  central 
Poland;  the  youngest  son  in  the  mountainous  dis- 
tricts of  the  south;  any  son  who  stays  at  home  while 
others  emigrate),  or  it  is  the  child  who  is  most  likely 
to  raise  by  his  personal  qualities  the  social  standing 
of  the  family.  .  .  . 

The  reality  of  the  familial  ties  once  admitted,  every 
member  of  the  family  evidently  feels  responsible  for, 

34 


HERITAGES  AND  HUMAN  WISHES 


and  is  held  responsible  for,  the  behavior  and  welfare 
of  every  other  member,  because,  in  peasant  thinking, 
judgments  upon  the  group  as  a  whole  are  constantly 
made  on  the  basis  of  the  behavior  of  members  of  the 
family,  and  vice  versa.  On  this  account  also  between 
any  two  relatives,  wherever  found,  an  immediate 
nearness  is  assumed  which  normally  leads  to  friend- 
ship. In  this  connection  it  is  noticeable  that  in 
primitive  peasant  life  all  the  attitudes  of  social  pride 
are  primarily  famiUal  and  only  secondarily  individual. 
When  a  family  has  lived  from  time  immemorial  in 
the  same  locaUty,  when  all  its  members  for  three  gen- 
erations are  known  or  remembered,  every  individual 
is  classified  first  of  all  as  belonging  to  the  family,  and 
appreciated  according  to  the  appreciation  which  the 
family  enjoys,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  social 
standing  of  the  family  is  influenced  by  the  social 
standing  of  its  members,  and  no  individual  can  rise 
or  fall  without  drawing  to  some  extent  the  group 
with  him.  At  the  same  time  no  individual  can  so 
rise  or  fall  as  to  remove  himself  from  the  familial 
background  upon  which  social  opinion  always  puts 
him.* 

25.  When  I  fiirst  came  into  this  world  the  Rihbany 
clan  experienced  the  usual  rejoicing  which  comes  to 
a  Syrian  clan  when  a  man  child  is  born  to  one  of  its 
families.  My  kindred  rejoiced  at  my  advent,  not 
merely  because  I  was  a  son  instead  of  a  daughter, 
important  as  that  was,  but  because  I  was  an  asset 
of  the  clan,  a  possible  reinforcement  to  their  fighting 


*  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant,  vol.  i,  pp.  87-97, 
passim.  The  peasant  is  everywhere  changing  rapidly  in  Europe 
so  that  the  organization  here  sketched  is  hardly  anywhere  found 
in  its  pure  form.  It  is,  nevertheless,  still  the  dominant  fact  in 
peasant  life. 

35 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


strength,  which  they  had  to  use  often  against  another 
powerful  elan  in  the  town,  called  Jirdak,  In  the 
Jirdak  camp,  however,  a  correspondingly  great  sor- 
row was  felt.  On  the  same  night  on  which  I  was 
born  they  lost  by  death  one  of  their  most  valiant 
fighters.  ...  As  clans,  we  lived  in  accordance  with 
the  precept,  "Eye  for  eye,  tooth  for  tooth,  burning 
for  burning,  wound  for  wound,"  and  no  favor.  .  .  . 

Clannish  life  has  its  decidedly  romantic  side. 
Provided  one  is  able  and  willing  to  forget  the  larger 
interests  of  civilization  and  the  nobler  visions  of 
nationalism  and  human  brotherhood,  and  make  the 
rule  of  his  social  life  the  faulty  maxim,  "My  clan, 
right  or  wrong,"  I  know  of  no  more  delightful  social 
state  than  that  which  clannish  life  affords.  As  I 
write,  the  past  rises  before  me  like  a  bewitching 
dream.  I  am  carried  back  to  the  time  when  the 
hearts  of  all  my  kinsmen  throbbed,  beat  for  beat, 
with  my  heart;  when  everyone  of  their  homes  was 
as  much  mine  as  my  own  fireside,  when  we  lived  in 
hfe's  shifting  lights  and  shadows,  "all  for  each  and 
each  for  all."  The  fact  that  we  dwelt  among  antag- 
onistic clans  served  only  to  heighten  our  heroism, 
strengthen  our  clannish  cohesion,  and  intensify  the 
delightfulness  of  our  kinship.^ 

26.  There  are  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  clans 
in  the  [Chinese]  Empire.  Branches  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  them  are  found  in  nearly  every  province. 
A  town,  however,  never  consists  of  people  of  one 
clan  alone,  as  a  man  is  not  allowed  to  marry  a  woman 
of  the  same  name.  The  organization  of  them  is  so 
complete  that,  while  it  sometimes  secures  justice  to 
the  innocent,  it  may  besides  thwart  the  designs  of 

1  A.  M.  Rihbany,  A  Far  Journey  (autobiography  of  a  Syrian 
immigrant,  now  a  Unitarian  minister  in  Boston),  p.  3. 

36 


HERITAGES  AND  HUMAN  WISHES 


the  government,  and  even  of  justice.  In  some  parts 
of  the  country  they  keep  up  bitter  and  even  bloody 
quarrels  from  generation  to  generation;  and  the  chiefs 
of  the  clan  at  Peking  are  able  to  prevent  the  punish- 
ment of  murder  and  violence  committed  by  members 
of  it  elsewhere.  ...  I  know  of  none  in  California. 

The  second  class  of  powerful  organizations  in  China 
is  the  trade  associations,  or  guilds.  These  resemble 
those  for  similar  objects  in  Europe  and  America,  and 
therefore  need  no  special  description  here.  They  are 
there,  as  here,  often  beneficent  in  their  operations, 
and  yet  often  oppressive.  In  a  monarchical  or 
despotic  government  they  are  useful  as  a  check 
against  its  tyranny;  but  it  is  still  doubtful  whether 
they  are  not  more  of  an  injury  than  a  benefit,  since 
they  interfere  with  healthful  competition,  remove 
incitements  to  industry,  and  provide  opportunities 
for  the  arts  of  intriguing  and  worthless  men,  or  resorts 
for  the  depraved.  It  is  stated  that  there  are  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  of  their  halls  in  Canton.  .  .  . 

The  third  class  is  that  of  town  and  district  councils. 
This  forms  the  highest  advance  toward  a  regular 
representative  government.  They  exercise  the  local 
powers  of  government  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
imperial  officers  rarely  dare  to  rouse  them  to  general 
resistance.  The  local  administration  of  justice  is 
left  almost  wholly  in  their  hands.  Police  arrange- 
ments, and  taxation  for  local  purposes,  are  within 
their  jurisdiction.  The  elders  elected  generally  are 
continued  as  long  as  they  perform  their  duties  with 
satisfaction  to  the  people.  They  are  allowed  a  salary 
of  from  two  to  four  hundred  dollars  a  year.  The 
elders  of  a  district,  which  may  embrace  fifty  to  a 
hundred  towns  and  villages,  meet  in  a  district  council, 
which  has  its  central  hall,  and  a  president  and  other 

4  37 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


necessary  oflBcers,  who  receive  sufficient  salaries.  .  .  . 

During  the  stormy  times  succeeding  the  Opium 
War,  foreigners  seeking  to  enlarge  their  former 
restrictions  often  came  into  conflict  with  these  coun- 
cils, and  proved  the  extent  of  the  popular  power. 
We  were  effectually  prevented  from  renting  houses, 
after  agreeing  to  pay  the  most  outrageous,  exorbitant 
rents,  by  a  simple  notification  from  the  council  of 
the  ward  of  the  city  in  which  they  were  situated,  that 
if  the  owner  admitted  us  to  the  building  it  would  be 
destroyed,  and  himself  put  to  death.  Nor  was  the 
governor-general,  with  the  power  of  the  Emperor  to 
back  him,  able  to  sustain  us  against  such  a  decree.^ 

In  America  we  think  of  the  "feeling  of 
personality"  as  associated  with  individually 
determined  acts  and  policies.  The  indi- 
vidual acts  "on  his  own,"  takes  great  risks, 
and  takes  the  consequences.  But  in  the 
case  of  our  immigrants  the  whole  struggle 
for  self-expression  has  been  made  as  a  mem- 
ber of  an  organization,  and  the  individual 
has  felt  himself  a  person  to  the  degree  that 
he  was  incorporated  in  an  organization. 
The  primary  group  maintains  the  security 
of  the  whole  community  at  the  sacrifice  of 
the  wishes  of  its  individual  members.  There 
is  little  place  for  new  experience,  individual 
recognition,  and  individual  response,  because 
there  is  little  place  for  individual  initiative 

*  R.  E.  Speer,  "The  Democracy  of  the  Chinese,"  in  Harper' a 
Magazine,  vol.  xxxvii,  p.  843. 

38 


HERITAGES  AND  HUMAN  WISHES 


and  responsibility.  But  the  group,  as  a 
whole,  has  an  astonishing  interest  in  its  own 
status  among  the  surrounding  groups,  that 
it  shall  be  respected  and  shall  prosper  and 
advance,  for  status  means  a  general,  pub- 
lic, and  permanent  recognition  and  gives  a 
sense  of  permanent  security.  The  individual 
also  seeks  status,  but  he  must  get  this  as 
the  member  of  a  group.  Even  the  response 
he  seeks  in  marriage  is  the  response  appro- 
priate to  him  as  member  of  a  group.  It  is 
on  this  basis  that  we  can  understand  com- 
pletely the  letters  written  by  immigrant 
boys  to  their  parents  asking  them  to  send 
them  wives.  The  parents  can  be  trusted 
to  select  girls  whose  status  will  not  lower  the 
status  of  the  family.  This  is  what  the 
parents  mean  when  they  write  that  they  will 
send  a  *' suitable"  wife.  They  may  name 
the  family  of  the  girl,  but  not  state  which 
daughter  is  to  be  sent,  and  the  boy  may  or 
may  not  inquire  whether  they  are  sending 
this  or  that  girl: 

27.  [November  11,  1902.]  Dearest  Parents: 
Please  do  not  be  angry  with  me  for  what  I  shall  write. 
I  write  you  that  it  is  hard  to  live  alone,  so  please  find 
some  girl  for  me,  but  an  orderly  [honest]  one,  for  in 
America  there  is  not  even  one  single  orderly  [Polish] 
girl.  .  .  .  [December  21,  1902.]  I  thank  you  kindly 
for  your  letter,  for  it  was  happy.   As  to  the  girl, 

39 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


although  I  don't  know  her,  my  companion,  who 
knows  her,  says  that  she  is  stately  and  pretty,  and  I 
believe  him,  as  wel"  as  you,  my  parents.  .  .  .  Please 
inform  me  which  one  [of  the  sisters]  is  to  come,  the 
older  or  the  younger  one,  whether  Aleksandra  or 
Stanislawa.i 

ADJUSTMENT  TO  INDIVIDUALISTIC  SOCIETY 

The  form  of  organization  which  we  have  here 
sketched  is  common  to  all  the  elementary 
stages  of  society.  In  the  formation  of  the 
state  the  sentiment  for  the  community  was 
partly  converted  into  allegiance  to  an  indi- 
vidual and  through  him  to  the  w^hole  terri- 
torial group,  the  state.  Russia,  before  1918, 
was  in  the  stage  where  subordination  to  the 
will  of  the  sovereign  was  as  absolute  as 
subordination  to  the  will  of  the  commune, 
and  Japan  still  represents  this  stage,  formally 
if  not  actually : 

28,  The  people  believe  that  it  is  the  Tsar's  business 
to  govern  them  and  that  for  this  the  Tsar  has  no  need 
of  the  people.  The  Tsar  thinks  about  them,  either 
with  his  advisers  or  alone,  not  sleeping  at  night  for 
the  welfare  of  the  people,  but  ...  in  the  under- 
standing of  the  people  the  Tsar  should  govern  alone. 
That  is  not  his  right,  but  his  heavy  burden.  That 
is  how  the  people  look  on  it.  In  the  history  of  Russia 
the  Tsar  has  frequently  taken  counsel  with  the  people, 
but  there  is  only  that  historical  form,  understood 
by  the  people  and  near  it — a  zemsky  sobor.  These 

*  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant,  vol.  ii,  p.  i59. 
40 


HERITAGES  AND  HUMAN  WISHES 


assemblies  said,  "This  is  what  we  think,  but  it  is 
your  will."  ^ 

29.  Mr.  H.  Kato,  ex-president  of  the  Imperial 
University,  in  a  recent  work  entitled  The  Evolution 
of  Morality  and  Law,  says  ...  in  so  many  words: 
"Patriotism  in  this  country  means  loyalty  to  the 
throne.  To  the  Japanese  the  Emperor  and  the 
country  are  the  same.  The  Emperor  of  Japan,  with- 
out the  slightest  exaggeration,  can  say,  'Uetat,  c'est 
mot.*  The  Japanese  believe  that  all  their  happiness 
is  bound  up  with  the  Imperial  line  and  have  no  respect 
for  any  system  of  morality  or  law  that  fails  to  take 
cognizance  of  this  fact."  ^ 

On  the  contrary,  the  individualism  which 
is  characteristic  of  Western  cultural  societies, 
and  which  is  largely  the  result  of  increased 
communication,  means  the  tendency  to  con- 
struct a  scheme  of  life  and  relationships  based 
on  the  intelligent  use  of  all  values  that  can  be 
found  anywhere  in  the  world,  disregarding  to 
some  extent  allegiance  to  persons  and  localities. 

Nevertheless,  the  primary-group  organi- 
zation persists  as  an  element  in  all  present 
societies.  It  is  not,  as  is  usually  assumed, 
a  survival  of  the  past,  but  a  spontaneous 
expression  arising  in  all  societies,  in  all 
classes,  never  absorbing  completely  the  in- 
terests of  its  members,  but  still  constituting 

'  N.  M.  Pavlov,  Stenographic  Report  of  the  Peierhof  Conference 
(1905),  held  under  the  chairmanship  of  the  Tsar,  to  determine  the 
form  of  the  Duma,  p.  127. 

'  S.  L.  Gulick,  Evolution  of  the  Japanese,  p.  373. 

41 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


the  most  important  form  of  social  life  for 
the  immense  majority  of  mankuid.  It  is 
only  in  a  few  large  cities  that  the  primary 
group  has  lost  its  importance,  and  even 
there  its  loss  begins  to  be  felt  as  a  dangerous 
trend  of  social  evolution,  as  is  shown  by  the 
recent  attempts  to  reconstruct  the  community 
in  American  cities. 

The  need  of  intimate,  face-to-face  rela- 
tions, the  desire  to  be  a  member  of  society, 
is  very  powerful.  Its  strength  appears  in 
the  mental  distress  of  those  in  solitary  con- 
finement and  in  the  tendency  to  insanity 
among  those  completely  isolated — the  sheep- 
herders  of  New  Mexico,  for  example.  It 
is  seeUs  stripped  of  all  inhibitions,  naked 
and  mandatory,  in  cases  of  mental  disorder, 
which  sometimes  give  the  opportunity  for 
deeper  insight  into  the  nervous  system  than 
is  possible  in  normal  life: 

I  must  join  some  organization  as  soon  as  possible, 
for  I  cannot  fight  all  hell  by  myself  indefinitely.* 

Working  upon  this  need,  society  at  home 
controlled  the  behavior  of  the  immigrant 
completely,  or  attempted  to  do  so,  and  gave 
him  a  complete  and  rigid  scheme  of  life. 
We  shall  next  examine  the  effect  of  the  great 
American  society  on  this  scheme. 

'  Letter  from  a  subject  of  the  delusion  of  persecution.  Haines, 
Journal  of  Abnormal  Psychology,  vol.  ii,  p.  379. 

42 


Ill 


IMMIGRANT  EXPERIENCES 

From  his  peasant  community,  a  primary 
organization  such  as  we  have  just  described, 
the  immigrant  comes  to  a  society  in  a 
secondary  stage  of  organization  in  America, 
based  on  business  enterprise  and  represented 
by  the  state.  Actually,  the  individual,  or 
the  family,  almost  invariably  comes  to 
friends  and  finds  some  sort  of  primary  group 
awaiting  him  here.  If  he  is  a  Pole,  he 
settles  among  Poles,  and  so  with  the  other 
races.  But  this  new  community  is  only  a 
loose  aggregation  of  acquaintances,  not  a 
complete  organization,  and,  moreover,  its 
members  have  themselves  changed  in  Amer- 
ica. They  usually  take  charge  of  the  new- 
comer, perhaps  board  him,  and  instruct 
him  in  American  customs  until  "the  green 
has  worn  off" — ausgegriint"  as  the  Jews 
express  it. 

CHANGE  IN  ATTITUDES 

The  first  changes  in  the  immigrant  are 
more  or  less  superficial,  relating  to  dress, 

43 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


manners,  and  the  other  signs  which  will 
betray  him  as  a  "greenhorn."    But  deeper 
changes  come  rapidly,  more  rapidly  than 
I   we  appreciate.    Document  30  shows  their 
I  nature.    Usually  parents  complain  of  the 
I   rapid  changes  in  children,  but  in  this  case 
it  is  the  reverse:  » 

30.  I  have  just  taken  my  wife  and  child  o£F  Ellis 
Island.  The  child  is  five  years  old.  Three  years 
ago  I  left  him  at  home,  where  he  was  reared  by  my 
wife's  pious  parents.  Now  the  little  fellow  is  the 
defender  of  God  and  rebukes  me. 

He  continually  questions  his  mother  as  to  why  I 
1  eat  uncovered,  why  I  do  not  wash  before  eating,  why 
I  do  not  make  a  brochoh  [short  prayer].  He  says  to 
her,  "Father  is  a  Gentile." 

Upon  my  question  as  to  why  it  is  prohibited  to  do 
the  above  things  he  replies  that  God  will  punish.  He 
will  make  me  ill  and  I  will  be  tortured  in  hell.  Grand- 
father, he  says,  told  him  so.  I  attempted  to  convince 
him  that  his  grandfather  was  joking,  but  he  refuses 
to  believe  it.  He  says  that  God  is  listening  to  our 
conversation  through  an  angel.  Once  I  asked  him 
to  remove  his  cap,  but  he  only  did  it  because  he 
feared  me,  and  began  to  cry  bitterly  and  became 
agitated.  In  short,  he  is  very  far  from  me.  He  is 
afraid  of  me.  He  cries  and  tells  his  mother  that 
father  is  a  Gentile.  He  wants  no  Gentile  for  a 
father!  .  .  . 

How  may  the  poisoned  root  of  fanaticism  be  torn 
out  of  the  child's  heart.^ 

*  Forward  (New  York  Yiddish  newspaper),  April  21,  1906. 
44 


IMMIGRANT  EXPERIENCES 


On  the  other  hand,  these  changes  may  be 
very  limited  and  slow,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  the  immigrant  continues  to  live  among 
his  own  people  and  has  very  few  contacts 
with  Americans. 

31.  Although  almost  five  years  have  passed  since 
I  started  for  America,  it  was  only  now  that  I  caught 
a  ghmpse  of  it.  For  though  I  was  in  America  I  had 
lived  in  practically  the  same  environment  which  we 
brought  from  home.  Of  course,  there  was  a  differ- 
ence in  our  joys,  in  our  sorrows,  in  our  hardships, 
for  after  all  this  was  a  different  country;  but  on  the 
whole  we  were  stUl  in  our  village  in  Russia.  A  child 
that  came  to  this  country  and  began  to  go  to  school 
had  taken  the  first  step  into  the  New  World.  But 
the  child  that  was  put  into  the  shop  remained  in  the 
old  environment  with  the  old  people,  held  back  by 
the  old  traditions,  held  back  by  illiteracy.  Often  it 
was  years  before  he  could  stir  away  from  it;  some- 
times it  would  take  a  lifetime.  Sometimes,  too,  it 
happened  as  in  fairy  tales,  that  a  hand  was  held  out 
to  you  and  you  were  helped  out.  In  my  own  case 
it  was  tlirough  the  illness  which  had  seemed  such  a 
misfortune  that  I  had  stirred  out  of  Cherry  Street.^ 

32.  To  the  small  minority  of  eager,  aggressive  . 
ideahsts,  whose  restless  spirits  soon  break  through 
the  barriers  of  inherited  customs  and  respond  with 
avidity  to  the  challenges  of  a  higher  civilization  .  .  . 
the  word  "America"  soon  takes  the  form  of  "oppor-  ) 
tunity,"  and  is  tmderstood  in  terms  of  incentive  and  / 
room  for  soul  expansion.    The  loose  composition  of 

a  population  of  many  and  mutually  exclusive  nation- 

'  Rose  Cohen,  Out  of  the  Shadow,  p.  246. 

45 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


alities,  the  grotesque  manners,  and  the  multitude 
of  saloons  and  other  haunts  of  vice  and  crime  in  the 
"lower  regions"  of  American  cities,  where  the  foreign 
colonies  are  generally  located,  soon  tend  to  awaken 
in  the  mind  of  that  foreigner  who  finds  himself  yearn- 
ing for  a  better  order  of  things,  the  significant  question, 
"Where  is  America?"  ^ 

33.  Finally  father,  choosing  his  words  carefully 
with  diflSculty,  said  to  Doctor  McFarland:  "Sir,  do 
you  know  you  are  the  first  American  gentlemen  who 
has  spoken  to  me  in  America?"  It  was  true.  In  all 
the  years  of  his  Ufe  in  America,  father,  the  scholar, 
the  dreamer,  had  never  really  met  a  real  American. 
He  had  met  people  who  spoke  English,  the  language  of 
America.  They  were  the  bums  in  our  narrow  streets, 
the  crooked  politicians  in  our  ward.  There  was  not 
one  man  whom  father  knew  as  an  American  who  was 
a  gentleman.^ 

Nearly  all  immigrants  have  idealized  Amer- 
ica. They  have  usually  had  glowing  pictures 
of  it,  and  are  disillusioned  by  the  conditions 
they  find  here. 

34.  All  the  time  I  hear  about  the  grand  city  of 
New  York.  They  say  it  is  something  to  surprise 
everyone.  I  learn  New  York  is  twice,  three,  four, 
ten  times  bigger  than  Italian  city.  Maybe  it  is 
better  than  Milano.    Maybe  it  is  better  than  Naples. 

"The  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave" 
— I  am  young  and  I  think  that  is  beautiful  land.  I 
hear  such  fine  words  like  "liberty,"  "democracy," 
"equality,"  "fraternity,"  and  I  like  this  high  prin- 

*  A.  M.  Rihbany,  A  Far  Journey,  p.  46. 

*  E.  C.  Stern,  Mother  and  I.  p.  113. 

46 


IMMIGRANT  EXPERIENCES 


ciples.  The  people  say  it  is  the  country  where  you 
are  your  own  boss,  where  you  may  receive  money 
on  your  word,  where  there  is  trust  and  confidence, 
so  that  America  look  Hke  a  blessed  country,  and  I 
think  I  am  going  to  great  city,  to  grand  country,  to 
better  world,  and  my  heart  develop  big  admiration 
and  a  great,  noble  sentiment  for  America  and  the 
Americano. 

I  arrive  in  New  York.  You  think  I  find  here  my 
idea?  .  . 

LOSS  OF  STATUS 

But  the  most  serious  condition  results 
from  the  loss  of  status  and  the  consequent 
diminished  sense  of  personality  when  the 
immigrant  encounters  American  conditions. 
He  brings  with  him  certain  habits,  customs, 
and  traditions,  including  language,  dress, 
social  ritual,  sentimental  ideals  and  interests, 
and  a  sense  of  moral  worth,  and  it  was  in 
connection  with  these  that  he  had  status  at 
home  (the  recognition  of  his  group)  and  a 
sense  of  personality  (recognition  of  his  role 
in  the  group).  He  brings  with  him,  in  fact, 
(1)  a  self -consciousness,  which  is  conscious- 
ness of  his  status  in  his  group;  (2)  a  group 
consciousness,  which  is  consciousness  of  the 
status  of  his  group  among  other  groups; 
and  (3)  a  national  consciousness  which  is 

1  Alessandro  Daluca,  Life  history.  See  document  10  and  note, 
p.  11. 

47 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


consciousness  of  the  status  of  his  national 
group  among  other  nations.  His  feehng 
of  personality  is  dependent  on  this  whole 
complex  of  ideas. 

When  the  immigrant  comes  to  America, 
not  only  must  he  leave  behind  the  com- 
munity which  was  the  basis  of  his  person- 
ality and  self  -  respect,  but  here  the  very 
signs  of  his  personality  (dress,  language,  and 
so  forth),  which  in  his  own  country  were  the 
signs  of  his  self-respect,  are  regarded  with 
contempt  and  made  the  occasions  of  his 
humiliation.  In  Europe,  the  question  of 
personality  was  not  the  subject  of  much 
reflection,  because  everything  was  habitual, 
but  here  the  realization  of  incongruities 
between  himself  and  American  life  makes 
the  question  of  personality  acute: 

35.  [He  had  long  wondered  why  he  was  always  re- 
fused work.] — At  last  a  butcher  in  the  upper  eighties 
gave  me  the  answer  with  pungent  frankness.  .  .  . 
He  looked  me  over  from  head  to  foot,  and  then,  with 
a  contemptuous  glance  at  my  shabby  foreign  shoes 
(the  alien's  shoes  are  his  Judas),  he  asked  me  whether 
I  supposed  he  wanted  a  greenhorn  in  his  store.  I 
pondered  that  query  for  a  long  time.* 

36.  [At  the  University  of  Missouri]  In  the  first  two 
months  I  had  and  lost  a  half-dozen  roommates.  Do 
what  I  might,  I  could  not  make  them  stay  with  me. 
There  were  never  any  hard  words;  we  always  parted 

1  M.  E.  Ravage,  An  American  in  the  Making,  p.  93. 

48 


IMMIGRANT  EXPERIENCES 


as  "good  friends."  But  almost  from  the  first  day 
they  would  hardly  talk  to  me,  and  before  the  week 
was  out  they  would  find  some  excuse  for  moving  or 
asking  me  to  move.  I  spent  many  sleepless  nights 
in  trying  to  figure  out  the  thing.  [At  this  time  no 
one  knew  that  he  was  a  Jew.]  ^ 

37.  When  I  was  twenty-five  years  old  I  sailed 
[from  Austrian  Poland]  for  America,  with  nine  suits 
of  clothes  and  about  $200.  My  first  job  in  this 
country  was  in  a  factory  where  they  painted  ribbons 
for  typewriters.  The  factory  was  not  far  from  the 
South  Station  in  Boston.  I  worked  ten  hours  a  day 
for  $4  a  week.  My  ten  suits  were  soon  spoiled,  for 
I  was  ashamed  to  wear  overalls,  and  one  after  another 
my  suits  were  ruined  at  work.  Finally  the  only  suit 
I  had  left  was  a  Prince  Albert  affair.  I  went  to  work 
in  that.  I  remember  passing  a  line  of  fellow  workers 
leaning  against  the  building,  smoking  their  pipes. 
When  they  saw  me  coming  in  my  Prince  Albert,  they 
took  their  pipes  out  of  their  mouths  and  bowed  low 
to  me,  saying,  "Me  lord,"  as  I  passed.^ 

38.  I  found  that  father  was  already  at  home.  As 
I  came  into  the  room  I  saw  him  resting  against  the 
wall,  clipping  his  beard.  I  was  so  surprised  and 
shocked  to  see  him  actually  do  this  thing  that  I  could 
neither  speak  nor  move  for  some  minutes.  And  I 
knew  that  he,  too,  felt  embarrassed.  After  the  first 
glance  I  kept  my  eyes  steadily  on  the  fioor  in  front 
of  me,  and  began  to  talk  to  him  quietly,  but  with 
great  earnestness:  "You  had  been  so  pious  at  home, 
father,"  I  said,  "more  pious  than  anyone  else  in  our 
whole  neighborhood.  And  now  you  are  cutting 
your  beard.    Grandmother  would  never  have  believed 

*  M.  E.  Ravage,  An  American  in  the  Making,  p.  207. 

*  Frank  Wiech,  Latorence  American,  June  4,  1919. 

49 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


it.  How  she  would  weep!"  The  snipping  of  the 
scissors  still  went  on.  But  I  knew  by  the  sound 
that  now  he  was  only  making  a  pretense  at  cutting. 
At  last  he  laid  it  down  and  said  in  a  tone  that  was 
bitter  yet  quiet:  "They  do  not  like  Jews  on  Cherry 
Street.  And  one  with  a  long  beard  has  to  take  his 
life  into  his  own  hands."  * 

39.  In  the  shop  .  .  .  the  only  inequality  I  had 
ever  felt  was  that  of  age  .  .  .  while  as  a  servant  my 
home  was  a  few  hard  chairs  and  two  soiled  quilts. 
My  every  hour  was  sold  day  and  night.  I  had  to 
be  constantly  in  the  presence  of  people  who  looked 
down  upon  me  as  an  inferior.  I  felt,  though  in  a 
child's  way,  that  being  constantly  with  people  who 
looked  upon  me  as  inferior,  I  was,  or  soon  would  be 
an  inferior.^ 

40.  One  day  a  well-dressed  strange  young  man 
came  in.  He  made  sure  of  our  name  at  the  door  and 
then  came  and  sat  down  at  the  window,  opened  a 
little  book  and  began  to  question  me  about  my 
family,  my  father's  name,  his  trade,  how  long  he  had 
been  out  of  work,  how  much  he  had  earned,  how  long 
mother  had  been  ill,  and  so  on.  .  .  .  "Do  you  need 
anything?"  he  asked.  .  .  .  "Do  we  need  anything?" 
It  seemed  such  a  strange  question  and  I  did  not 
answer,  and  he  repeated  the  question  in  Yiddish.  I 
finally  did  understand  and  I  heard  myself  say,  "No." 
Still  thinking  that  I  did  not  understand,  he  asked: 
"Do  you  need  any  clothes?"  I  shook  my  head. 
"Do  you  need  any  shoes?"  He  looked  at  mine. 
"No."  "Have  you  everything?"  "Everything," 
I  repeated,  but  I  could  not  look  at  him.  ...  In 
the  evening  when  father  was  home  our  neighbor 

*  Rose  Cohen,  Out  of  the  Shadow,  p.  106. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  180. 

50 


IMMIGRANT  EXPERIENCES 


brought  in  four  dollars.  "A  strange  young  man  left 
it,"  she  said,  and  the  next  day  there  was  a  half  ton 
of  coal.' 

41.  The  first  family  where  I  worked  knew  per- 
fectly well  that  I  spoke  French  and  German.  I 
heard  them  mention  the  fact  to  a  guest  at  the  table — 
but  to  them  I  was  not  any  more  interesting  an  object 
than  any  peasant  girl  who  could  neither  read  nor 
write.  They  might  have  known  that  I  must  have 
had  some  sort  of  education,  for  the  average  immi- 
grant girl  does  not  speak  many  languages.  Our 
relations  were  entirely  impersonal.  I  found  out  how 
foreigners  are  regarded  by  the  old-line  Americans, 
and  I  cannot  say  that  it  made  me  feel  any  more 
friendly  toward  America.  I  was  still  of  the  Old 
World,  and  who  can  blame  me?  ^ 

42.  There  is  much  Italian  talent  which  Americans 
do  not  recognize  as  yet.  The  best  workers  at  Tiffany's 
are  Italians.  The  best  designers  among  garment 
workers  are  Italians.  I  do  not  imderstand  why 
Itahans  have  been  treated  in  this  country  as  they 
have  been.  I  go  to  a  store,  and  they  say  to  me, 
"Are  you  French?"  I  say,  "No."  They  say, 
"Spanish?"  "No,  I  am  Italian."  And  then  there 
is  immediate  coldness  and  contempt.' 

43.  More  than  to  any  other  of  their  heritages,  the 
Italian  immigrants  hold  to  their  music.  When  they 
are  in  their  homes  or  the  homes  of  their  friends  they 
sing  their  folk  songs,  but  they  are  ashamed  to  sing 
this  music  when  they  are  in  gatherings  of  Americans. 
.  .  .  The  reason   the  young  people  buy  ragtime 


1  Rose  Cohen,  Out  of  the  Shadow,  p.  166. 

'  Autobiography  of  a  Finnish  girl  of  Swedish  descent  (manuscript). 
'  Signora  de  Blasio,  Italian  Industrial  School,  New  York  (inter- 
view). 

51 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


music  is  that  they  do  not  want  to  be  different  from 
their  American  friends.  When  they  visit  their 
friends  in  American  homes  they  find  that  ragtime 
music  is  the  music  that  is  played,  and  they  don't 
want  to  be  humiUated  by  being  different  from  their 
American  friends.  Therefore  they  buy  the  same 
records  that  their  class  of  Americans  do.^ 

In  document  44,  below,  we  have  a  dlfiferent 
case  of  anxiety  about  status.  The  family- 
belongs  to  the  type  called  by  the  Jews  "all- 
rightnick''  (mentioned  in  Chapter  V);  it  has 
penetrated  the  American  environment  prob- 
ably as  far  as  the  Bronx,  and  the  writer's 
anxiety  concerns  her  status  in  the  new 
situation : 

44.  I  have  a  nice  home,  fine  clothes,  a  good  hus- 
band, and  yet  aU  this  cannot  satisfy  me.  The  reason 
is  that  I  am  imeducated;  also  my  husband,  who  is 
even  more  ignorant  than  myself.  '  He  cannot  even 
write  Jewish  nor  speak  properly  to  anybody.  You 
may,  then,  picture  my  anguish! 

We  live  in  a  very  rich  neighborhood,  among  wealthy, 
intelligent  people.  I  can  keep  up  with  their  styles, 
clothes,  and  furniture,  but  not  with  the  Enghsh 
language.  My  misfortime  is  still  greater  because  I 
am  a  good  judge  of  myself.  WTien  my  husband  or 
I  say  something  that  is  not  expressed  properly,  I 
immediately  recognize  the  error  and  I  imagine  every- 
body smiling.  And  my  pain  is  still  more  acute  over 
the  fact  that  we  came  here  as  children.  My  husband 
was  nine  years  old  and  I  eleven.    But  very  unfortu- 


'  R.  N.  O'Neil,  Report  on  Syracuse,  New  York  (manuscript). 
52 


IMMIGRANT  EXPERIENCES 


nately  there  was  no  law  against  child  labor  at  that 
time.  Just  imagine  a  nine  or  eleven  year  old  child 
working  to-day ! 

I  received  a  little  education  in  Europe  up  to  my 
tenth  year.  I  know  a  little  of  German,  Polish, 
Russian,  and — as  you  see — Jewish.  I  can  also  read 
an  English  book  and  write  also — though  I  am  spelling 
defectively.  But  what  troubles  me  most  is  speaking. 
Am  somewhat  familiar  with  the  street  English,  but 
unable  to  converse  with  an  intelligent  person.  My 
husband  does  not  even  know  that  much.  He  is  a 
very  able  business  man  and  no  more.  Owing  to  his 
ignorance  I  have  neglected  what  I  did  know,  for  I 
did  not  wish  to  be  superior  to  him.  My  desire  had 
always  been  to  marry  an  educated  man  and  learn 
from  him. 

Perhaps  you  can  show  us  a  way  to  educate  our- 
selves. Some  may  regard  this  as  folly  and  remark 
that  I  am  too  comfortable  and  do  not  know  what  I 
want.  My  husband  is  unconcerned,  but  I  am 
dejected  and  feel  inferior  even  to  the  one  I  am  superior 
to.  I  must  add  that  we  have  been  married  twelve 
years,  have  three  children.  But  I  am  so  young — 
only  twenty -nine !  ^ 

The  subject  of  document  45  had  a  superior 
standing  at  home;  he  was  a  learned  man, 
and  the  first  experience  here  is  bitter. 
ObHged  to  live  scantily  in  New  York,  he 
went  to  a  five-cent  lodging  house  kept  by 
one  of  his  countrymen  in  the  Syrian  colony. 
Later,  advised  by  his  friends,  he  takes  up 
peddling. 


'  Forward,  July  20,  1917. 
5  53 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

45.  As  I  lay  awake  under  Moses's  roof  that  night 
I  thought  of  all  the  good  things  I  had  ever  enjoyed 
in  my  life,  of  all  the  poetry  I  had  learned,  of  the  pride 
with  which  my  breast  had  heaved  as  a  "learned 
man"  among  my  kindred.  Now  I  was  in  the  New 
World,  which  did  not  seem  to  take  immediate  notice 
of  my  worth,  tucked  in  a  dingy  corner,  nay,  crucified 
between  two  thieves  [fellow  lodgers]!  .  .  .  Call  it 
pride,  vanity,  or  whatever  you  please,  whenever  I 
thought  of  peddling  "jewelry  and  notions,"  death 
lost  its  terror  for  me.  The  mere  sight  of  those  crude, 
greasy  peddlers  nauseated  me.  Come  what  might, 
I  would  not  carry  the  keshah  [a  colloquial  Arabic 
name  for  the  peddler's  pack].^ 

Rihbany  (document  45)  was  a  man  of 
action  and  adapted  himseK  rapidly  and 
completely  to  American  conditions.  But 
certainly  the  most  difficult  and  painful  situ- 
ation is  that  of  the  superior  person  who  is 
inclined  by  temperament  and  training  to 
analyze  his  emotions  and  rationalize  his 
situation  in  America.  Document  46  indi- 
cates the  degree  of  nervous  shock  possible 
in  such  cases: 

46.  The  first  period  was  characterized  by  a  loss 
in  emotional  life.  There  was:  (1)  a  fading  of  emo- 
tional tones  [Gefuhlsbetonung]  and  a  gradual  reappear- 
ance. I  forgot  for  some  years  that  birds  sing,  flowers 
have  odor,  stars  shine.  I  lost  interest  in  theater, 
concert,  fiction;    (2)  a  replacement  of  emotional 


» A.  M.  Rihbany,  A  Far  Journey,  p.  194. 

64 


EMMIGRANT  EXPERIENCES 


standards  by  opportunistic  notions.  I  did  not  think 
of  what  I  Uked  or  disliked,  but  of  what  was  advan- 
tageous or  disadvantageous.  There  was  a  decided 
shifting  from  emotional  to  rational  motives.  I  found 
it  very  difficult  to  adopt  a  new  code  of  conduct 
because  of  an  entirely  foreign  emotional  basis.  .  .  . 

After  some  years  of  life  in  America  a  reconstruc- 
tion of  my  emotional  life  took  place.  I  was  building 
up  another  emotional  basis.  Some  of  the  means  to 
it  were:  (1)  a  groping  for  new  interest  (literature, 
bibliography,  history,  world  politics,  science) ;  (2)  par- 
ticipation in  public  interests  and  activities  (Vereini- 
gung  alter  Deutscher  Studenten  in  Amerika,  Biblio- 
graphical Society,  Rifle  Club,  Military  Work);  (3) 
new  social  contacts  (clubs,  society);  (4)  my  family 
interests. 

The  transition  period  caused  by  my  emigration 
lasted  nearly  twenty  years  and  was  retarded  by  the 
Great  War.  A  return  to  normal  emotional  life 
showed  itself  by  the  absence  of  dreams  in  which  I 
saw  myself  back  at  home  again.  Such  dreams  were 
extremely  frequent  at  first.  Now  all  my  plans  and 
hopes  centered  in  America  and  the  desire  for  a  per- 
manent return  to  Europe  ceased.  Also  the  fear  of 
isolation  in  America  ceased  and  a  sentiment  of 
coherence  with  the  new  country  and  identification 
developed  and  has  probably  completely  established 
itself.  .  .  . 

A  very  serious  handicap  in  my  new  life  in  America 
was  the  loss  of  confidence  in  my  judgment  which  the 
shifting  from  one  emotional  standard  to  another  one 
caused.  Whenever  we  must  decide  quickly  we  judge 
subconsciously.  The  subconscious  life  was  destroyed 
and  badly  disorganized.  I  never  knew  if  my  reac- 
tions would  be  in  line  with  the  new  code  of  conduct 

55 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


and  had  to  think  and  reflect.  Whenever  I  decided 
on  the  spur  of  the  moment  I  found  myself  out  of 
sympathy  with  my  environment.  I  did  not  feel  as 
they  felt  and  therefore  I  felt  wrongly  according  to 
their  standards.  To  act  instinctively  in  an  American 
fashion  and  manner  was  impossible,  and  I  appeared 
slow  and  clumsy.  The  proverbial  slowness  of  for- 
eigners is  largely  due  to  this  cause.^ 

Document  47  is  typical  of  the  experience 
of  the  unsophisticated  immigrant  who  loses 
in  America  that  security  assured  to  him  at 
home  as  a  member  of  an  organization.  Taken 
in  connection  with  the  foregoing  experience, 
it  indicates  the  motive  for  the  spontaneous 
formation  of  the  immigrant  organizations — 
mutual  aid,  nationalistic,  and  so  forth — in 
America,  which  we  shall  notice  later. 

47.  I  have  been  five  years  in  America.  For  four 
years  I  lived  in  Cleveland  and  now  I  am  in  Chicago. 
When  I  came  to  Chicago  I  did  not  have  anybody.  I 
got  off  the  train,  took  my  wife  and  three  children,  and 
we  walked  about  the  city  until  we  came  to  the  Jewish 
neighborhood.  We  stopped  on  a  corner  and  were 
talking  it  over.  We  decided  to  look  for  rooms  in 
order  to  have  a  home  where  we  could  lay  our  heads 
down.  We  found  three  rooms  for  $7  a  month. 
Then  I  left  my  wife  and  children  in  the  vacant  rooms 
and  I  went  to  buy  some  furniture,  and  I  was  told  to 
go  to  a  certain  store.  I  went  in  there  and  I  was 
treated  cordially.    I  told  them  I  want  some  furniture 

*  Autobiography  of  an  Austrian-German  university  man  (manu- 
script). 

56 


IMMIGRANT  EXPERIENCES 


only  of  the  cheap  kind,  because  I  am  still  green  here 
and  they  should  not  overcharge  me.  So  they  said: 
"We  have  only  one  price,  and  cheaper  than  any- 
where." So  I  believed  them  and  I  took,  like  a  poor 
man,  not  what  was  necessary,  only  what  we  had  to 
have.  The  prices  they  quoted  were  really  not  very 
dear  and  they  told  me  to  come  back  on  Saturday  for 
my  bill.  In  the  meantime  they  took  a  deposit  from 
me,  $50,  and  I  was  to  pay  $2  a  week.  Then  I  came 
home  and  ate  and  I  went  to  look  for  a  job  and  I  found 
one  at  $9  a  week.  I  was  very  pleased  with  Chicago. 
The  next  morning  I  went  to  work.    I  had  left  $4.75. 

When  I  came  home  after  my  first  day's  work  I 
found  my  home  fixed  up  with  the  furniture  that  they 
had  sent  up.  We  had  our  supper  with  great  happi- 
ness. Sabbath  (Saturday)  came  and  I  went  up  for 
my  bill  and  handed  them  $2,  the  first  payment. 
They  entered  it  in  their  books  and  they  gave  me  a 
book.  When  I  looked  in  the  book,  my  eyes  became 
dark!  The  bill  amounted  to  $235.98!  For  half  an 
hour  I  could  not  speak  and  when  I  came  to  myself 
and  I  asked  them,  "What  is  that?"  they  said,  "We 
told  you  the  prices  before."  The  prices  were  entered 
correctly  but  with  a  "slight"  difference.  For  in- 
stance: The  bed  does  cost  $15,  and  they  entered 
$15  but  they  had  added  springs,  $10,  and  a  mat- 
tress, $10.  A  stove  is  $28,  as  in  my  book,  but  a 
mantel  for  the  stove  $15  more.  And  so  on  for 
everything.  But  I  saw  that  it  was  over  and  I  went 
home.  To  my  wife  I  did  not  disclose  the  real  bill. 
She  would  not  shout  at  me,  but  I  did  not  want  her 
to  be  vexed  over  it.  I  used  to  pay  $2  every  week 
and  was  considered  a  fine  man  in  the  store.  And 
so  I  paid  a  whole  year  and  never  missed  a  week. 
Fifteen  weeks  ago  I  lost  my  job  and  I  could  not  get 

57 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


another  one  so  quickly.  And  I  disliked  the  work, 
too,  so  I  wanted  to  learn  a  good  trade,  and  I  saw  an 
advertisement  in  the  newspaper  that  they  are  teach- 
ing a  good  trade,  and  they  are  furnishing  a  steady 
place,  and  it  takes  two  weeks.  I  went  up  there  and 
they  told  me  that  they  give  a  place  and  it  takes  two 
weeks,  only  it  costs  $50  for  the  course  and  the  pay- 
ment is  in  advance.  If  I  had  seen  that  I  was  dealing 
with  Schnorrers  I  would  have  gone  away.  But  here 
I  saw  an  office  with  twenty  bookkeepers,  with  a  whole 
business,  so  I  went  home  and  talked  it  over  with  my 
wife  and  we  decided  that  I  should  go  and  learn  the 
trade.  But  I  did  not  have  no  $50,  so,  as  we  stUl  had 
some  pieces  of  jewelry  that  we  had  brought  from 
Cleveland,  we  pawned  them  and  gave  them  $50,  and 
the  next  day  I  went  to  work  there. 

When  I  went  into  the  shop  everybody  began  to 
laugh  at  me.  But  I  did  not  pay  any  attention  to 
them.  When  I  spoke  to  the  foreman,  the  instructors, 
I  saw  that  it  does  not  take  two  weeks,  but  two  years, 
and  that  they  do  not  give  any  place,  and  that  one 
must  know  good  Enghsh.  I  realized  that  I  fell  in 
with  $50!  I  came  home  half  dead  and  half  aUve, 
and  I  could  not  eat  any  supper  that  night.  The 
next  morning  I  went  up  there  and  I  told  them  that 
this  work  is  not  for  me,  that  I  am  green  yet  for  this 
kind  of  work,  and  I  wanted  them  to  deduct  $10  for 
the  day  and  to  refund  me  $40.  So  they  began  to 
send  me  from  one  to  the  other.  The  one  to  whom 
I  gave  the  money  wasn't  there  any  more.  In  his 
place  there  was  already  another.  I  stood  there, 
talked  and  cried  it  did  not  help  me  and  I  went  home. 

The  next  day  I  went  up  there  again  and  they  told 
me  the  same  as  yesterday.  I  began  to  go  there  every 
day  and  I  began  to  shout,  so  they  called  a  policeman 

58 


IMMIGRANT  EXPERIENCES 


and  wanted  to  arrest  me.  I  went  to  a  lawyer  and  he 
wanted  $15  beforehand,  win  or  lose.  I  did  not  have 
even  jSfteen  cents.  I  went  to  the  Jewish  Protective 
Association  and  told  them  my  story.  They  told  me 
that  they  can  do  nothing  for  me  because  I  am  not 
entitled  to  get  my  money  back.  So  it  means  that  I 
have  lost  $50!  If  I  had  lost  it  I  would  not  have 
been  so  sorry;  maybe  another  poor  man  would  have 
foimd  it.  But  here  I  see  how  they  are  rimning  out 
in  their  automobiles,  going  to  the  best  hotels,  to  the 
largest  theaters  for  my  hard-earned  $50. 

But  that  is  not  all.  Listen  further.  Now  it  is 
already  fifteen  weeks  that  I  am  not  working.  In  our 
city  there  is  a  big  crisis.  Sometimes  I  strike  a  job 
and  I  make  $4  or  $5  a  week.  From  these  earnings  I 
cannot  take  $2  a  week  to  pay  for  the  furniture.  So 
I  went  to  them  and  I  asked  them  to  wait.  They 
promised  me.  But  when  I  went  away  to-day  to 
look  for  a  job  and  when  I  returned  I  found  something 
that  shocked  me  so  that  I  nearly  lost  my  mind.  The 
house  was  vacant;  they  had  taken  away  everything 
from  my  house;  my  wife  was  lying  on  the  floor,  her 
hair  disheveled;  two  men  were  holding  her  and  two 
men  were  taking  everything  out.  Now  it  is  winter 
and  we  are  without  a  stove  and  without  anything. 

Again  I  went  to  the  Jewish  Protective  Association 
and  they  say  that  the  furniture  dealer  is  lawfully  right. 

To  find  work  in  Chicago  now  is  impossible.  I 
haven't  even  a  penny.  Naked  and  shoeless,  of  what 
good  is  my  Ufe  in  this  world.'*  So  I  decided  to  end 
my  life,  but  before  I  do  that  I  want  to  avenge  myself 
on  the  two  murderers.  But  I  am  asking  you,  publish 
this  letter,  let  the  people  know  the  life  of  the  poor, 
what  the  rich  do  with  their  hard-earned  money!* 


'  Forward,  January  26,  1914. 

59 


IV 


IMMIGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 

Human  nature  is  such  that  society  has  an 
extremely  difficult  task  to  make  its  indi- 
vidual member  "good" — that  is,  to  regulate 
and  organize  his  wishes  and  make  him 
efficient.  Even  when  the  population  is 
homogeneous,  the  traditions  unbroken,  the 
institutions  of  family,  community,  state, 
church,  school,  etc.,  complete,  it  is  a  task 
which  society  never  accomplishes  perfectly; 
we  always  have  some  disorder  and  crime. 

"Good"  behavior,  conformity  to  accepted 
standards,  is  secured  in  any  population  by 
what  we  may  call  a  common  definition  of  the 
situation.  The  "shalt  nots"  of  the  Ten 
Commandments  are  definitions  of  the  situa- 
tion. The  "don'ts"  of  the  mother,  the 
gossip  of  the  community,  epithets  ("liar," 
"thief"),  shrugs,  sneers,  and  "bawlings 
out,"  the  press,  the  pulpit,  legal  decisions, 
etc.,  are  common  methods  of  defining  the 
situation. 

60 


IMMIGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 


At  home  the  unmigrant  was  almost  com- 
pletely controlled  by  the  community;  in 
America  this  lifelong  control  is  relaxed. 
Here  the  community  of  his  people  is  at  best 
far  from  complete,  and,  moreover,  it  is 
located  within  the  American  community, 
which  lives  by  different  and  more  individ- 
ualistic standards,  and  shows,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  contempt  for  all  the  characteristics 
of  the  newcomers.  All  the  old  habits  of 
the  immigrant  consequently  tend  to  break 
down.  The  new  situation  has  the  nature 
of  a  crisis,  and  in  a  crisis  the  individual  tends 
either  to  reorganize  his  life  positively,  adopt 
new  habits  and  standards  to  meet  the  new 
situation,  or  to  repudiate  the  old  habits  and 
their  restraints  without  reorganizing  his  life — 
which  is  demoralization. 

There  is,  of  course,  violation  of  the  tradi- 
tional code,  "breaking  of  the  law,"  in  all 
societies,  and  there  is  at  present  a  general 
problem  of  demoralization  in  the  regions 
from  which  our  immigrants  come,  partic- 
ularly where  the  peasant  population  has 
come  into  contact  with  the  industrial  centers 
or  practices  seasonal  emigration  (as  from 
Poland  to  Germany);  but  the  demoraliza- 
tion, maladjustment,  pauperization,  juve- 
nile delinquency,  and  crime  are  incomparably 
greater  among  the  immigrants  in  America 

61 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


than  in  the  corresponding  European  com- 
munities. 

EARLY  STAGES 

In  document  48  below,  the  girl  is  not  yet 
demoralized.  Her  habits  are  disorganized 
and  it  is  a  painful  situation,  but  she  is 
evidently  trying  to  make  the  transition  to 
a  new  group — to  become  Americanized.  She 
may  marry  and  become  an  allrightnick  (see 
document  81,  p.  102),  or  she  may  abandon 
the  family  and  become  wayward.  A  too 
rapid  Americanization  is  usually  disastrous. 
Document  49  presents  another  painful  and 
abnormal  situation,  as  result  of  the  same 
process  of  rapid  change  in  children.  The 
humoristic  fiction  extract  (document  50) 
illustrates  the  condition  of  the  individual 
whose  life  is  no  longer  regulated  by  the 
community  norms  and  who  is  not  yet  able 
to  stabilize  his  life  on  any  other  basis: 

48.  [Her  husband,  a  business  man  in  Russia,  con- 
tracted for  standing  grain  and  was  ruined.  Her 
sister  in  America  offered  to  take  her  daughter  until 
she  had  "worked  herself  up"  and  could  send  for  her 
parents.] 

So  we  sent  our  sixteen  years  old  daughter  to  America 
and  we  remained  at  home.  I  cannot  describe  to  you 
the  way  I  felt  when  my  daughter  left  us.  Many 
nights  I  did  not  sleep  and  shed  many  tears  before  I 
received  a  letter  from  her  that  she  had  arrived  safely. 

62 


IMMIGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 


We  thought  that  we  should  be  able  to  follow  her 
within  a  short  time,  but  it  was  not  so.  My  daughter 
came  to  America,  but  she  did  not  meet  with  luck 
and  it  happened  that  our  condition  improved,  so  we 
wrote  to  our  child  to  come  home. 

This  was  three  years  after  she  left  us.  We  wrote 
one  letter  after  the  other  and  we  begged  her  to  return, 
but  she  did  not  want  to.  She  wrote  that  she  liked 
America  and  did  not  even  think  of  returning  home. 
I  am  a  mother,  and  a  faithful  mother  at  that,  and  I 
was  longing  for  her,  and  when  I  saw  that  she  did  not 
want  to  return,  I  began  to  pjersuade  my  husband  to 
go  to  America.  He  did  not  care  to  go,  but  I  talked 
so  much  and  argued  and  pleaded  with  him  that  he 
consented  and  we  emigrated  to  America.  It  was 
not  so  soon;  a  few  years  had  passed,  and  when  we 
arrived  we  did  not  recognize  oiu:  daughter.  She  was 
grown  up,  tail,  pretty — a  pleasure  to  look  at  her. 

My  husband  began  to  earn  little  by  httle.  We 
fixed  up  a  nice  home  and  I  was  happy  because  I 
could  see  my  daughter.  But  soon  I  realized  that  my 
big  pretty  daughter  is  not  the  girl  I  knew;  she  has 
changed  entirely.  Diu-ing  the  few  years  that  she 
was  here  without  us  she  became  a  regular  Yankee 
and  forgot  how  to  talk  Yiddish.  I  talk  to  her  in 
Yiddish  and  she  replies  in  English.  With  much 
difficulty  I  induce  her  to  speak  a  word  in  Yiddish 
and  I  succeed  only  when  there  are  no  strangers  in  the 
house.  When  strange  people  come  to  us,  my  daughter 
will  not  say  a  single  Yiddish  word. 

So  I  ask  her:  "Daughter  of  mine,  talk  Yiddish  to 
me  and  I  will  understand  you."  She  says  that  it  is 
not  nice  to  talk  Yiddish  and  that  I  am  a  greenhorn. 
And  that  is  not  all.  She  does  worse  things.  She 
wants  to  make  a  Christian  woman  out  of  me.  She 

63 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

does  not  like  to  have  me  light  the  Sabbath  candles, 
to  observe  the  Sabbath.  When  I  light  the  candles 
she  blows  them  out.  She  does  all  the  things  that  I 
do  not  want,  that  cause  me  the  greatest  heartache. 
And  she  argues  with  me.  She  says  that  because  I 
and  my  husband  are  pious  and  have  a  Jewish  home, 
she  can  never  invite  a  boy  acquaintance  to  her  house; 
she  is  ashamed.  She  makes  fun  of  me  and  her  father. 
She  calls  us  greenhorns  and  is  ashamed  of  us.  Once 
I  saw  her  standing  on  the  stoop  with  a  boy,  so  I  went 
up  to  her  and  asked  her  when  she  would  come  up  and 
eat  something.  She  did  not  even  reply,  and  later 
when  she  came  up  she  screamed  at  me  because  I  had 
called  her  by  her  Jewish  name.  But  I  cannot  call 
her  differently.    I  cannot  call  her  by  her  new  name. 

Dear  Editor,  it  is  impossible  to  describe  the  troubles 
that  she  causes  us,  and  as  much  as  I  ask  her  to  be  a 
good  daughter,  it  does  not  help.  Please  WTite  a  few 
words  for  my  daughter.^ 

49.  I,  an  old  seventy-year  old  Jew,  am  asking  you 
for  a  little  space  to  tell  you  my  troubles.  I  have 
hardly  begim  to  write  and  my  tears  are  coming  down 
already. 

Just  Usten  what  children  are.  At  home  I  was  a 
business  man.  In  Russia  I  have  played  a  big  part, 
employed  many  people,  contributed  much  to  charity, 
and  had  a  good  name.  INIy  house  was  always  open 
for  the  needy  and  himgry.  The  best  p>eople  of  our 
city  came  to  my  house.  In  short,  I  had  everything 
that  one  could  wish  for.  .  .  . 

[Business  failed,  but  saved  money  and  on  it  his 
sons  and  sons-in-law  have  become  prosperous  in 
America.]  My  daughters  go  to  the  coimtry  every 
year.    Naturally  it  costs  them  a  large  sum  of  money. 


» Forward,  July  9,  1917. 


64 


BIMIGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 


First,  they  go  with  their  children,  my  grandchildren; 
second,  they  buy  extra  dresses  and  they  go  to  a  swell 
place  where  they  pay  high  prices.  And  my  sons-in- 
law  go  to  them  every  Saturday  and  return  Monday 
morning.  Until  now  I  would  remain  at  home  with 
the  servant  girl.  She  would  wash  and  cook  for  me. 
But  this  summer  they  took  the  girl  along  with  them 
and  on  account  of  her  I  went  too. 

Now  I  am  cursing  every  day  my  old  years.  I  am 
worse  off  than  a  beggar,  because  a  beggar  when  he 
does  get  a  piece  of  bread  he  can  eat  it  wherever  he 
wishes,  but  I  cannot.  They,  my  children  and  my 
grandchildren,  told  me  that  I  should  not  sit  and  eat 
with  them  at  the  same  table  because  I  do  not  know 
Enghsh  and  I  have  a  long  gray  beard,  and  to  sit  with 
such  a  father  or  with  such  a  grandfather  is  a  shame. 
...  So  they  told  the  hotelkeeper  to  make  a  separate 
place  for  me  in  a  hut  not  far  from  the  springs.  And 
so  I  am  getting  my  meals  just  like  a  dog.  They  do 
not  talk  to  me,  they  do  not  take  me  along  whenever 
they  go  out  for  a  walk;  they  do  not  want  to  introduce 
me  to  anybody  and  so  on.  .  .  . 

So  I  decided  to  ask  my  children  for  a  few  hundred 
dollars  and  I  will  return  to  Russia.  And  there  I 
should  close  my  eyes  far,  far  from  my  children  and 
die  among  strange  people  on  a  strange  bed.^ 

50.  Because  he  was  too  lazy  to  go  to  preparatory 
school  to  gather  "counts"  Uke  his  older  brother,  and 
his  mother  made  his  life  miserable,  he  read  Yiddish 
papers  and  was  an  anarchist.  And  because  he  was 
an  anarchist  he  wanted  to  like  music,  and  he  let  his  ■ 
hair  grow  until  it  was  big  enough  for  both  an  anarchist 
and  a  violin  virtuoso.  Bertha  felt  he  was  the  right 
man  for  her,  so  she  no  longer  looked  with  disfavor 


1  Forward,  JxJy  15, 1914. 

65 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


upon  Yiddish  pap)ers,  ceased  buying  the  Times  every 
morning,  and  donned  an  anarchist  blouse  with  a 
black  tie.  When  his  mother  saw  their  intimate 
relations  she  discharged  the  girl  from  the  shop.  If 
they  had  no  serious  intentions  until  then,  this  action 
served  to  bring  them  closer  together  and  they  went 
to  live  in  a  free  union.  .  . 

EXTREME  CASES 

In  document  51  we  have  a  definite  demoral- 
ization, but  in  its  first  stages;  while  in  doc- 
ument 52  the  demoralization  is  complete. 
In  this  case  there  had  been  no  organizing 
influence  of  family  and  community,  no 
definition  of  the  situation  in  social  terms, 
and  the  boy  shows  the  predator^''  disposition 
natural  to  boys,  one  which  in  tribal  times, 
on  the  frontier,  and  in  war  makes  the  hero: 

51.  Dear  Sister:  I  write  as  to  a  sister  and  I 
complain  as  to  a  sister  about  my  children  from  the 
old  country — those  three  boys.  I  did  not  have 
them  with  me,  and  I  grieved  continuously  about  them; 
and  to-day  again,  on  the  other  hand,  my  heart  is 
bleeding.  They  will  not  listen  to  their  mother.  If 
they  would  hsten,  they  would  do  well  with  me.  But 
no,  they  wish  only  to  run  everywhere  about  the 
world,  and  I  am  ashamed  before  p)eople  that  they 
are  so  bad.  They  arrived,  I  sent  them  to  school, 
because  it  is  obligatory  to  send  them;  if  you  don't 

*  F.  Stock,  The  Day  (New  York  Yiddish  newspaper),  January 
14,  1917. 

66 


IMMIGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 


do  it  the  teacher  comes  and  takes  them  by  the  collar. 
So  they  have  been  going,  but  the  oldest  was  annoyed 
with  the  school.  "No,  mamma,  I  will  go  to  work." 
I  say,  "Go  on  to  school."  But  "No!"  and  "No!" 
Without  certificates  from  the  school  they  won't  let 
them  work.  I  got  certificates  for  the  two  oldest  ones: 
"Go,  if  you  wish."  They  worked  for  some  time,  but 
they  got  tired  of  work.  One  went  with  a  Jew  to 
ramble  about  corners  (trading  or  amusing  himself?), 
and  for  some  days  was  not  to  be  seen;  I  had  to  go 
and  search  for  him.  The  worst  one  of  them  is  Stach; 
the  two  others  are  a  httle  better.  They  were  good 
in  the  beginning,  but  now  they  know  how  to  speak 
Enghsh  and  their  goodness  is  lost.  I  have  no  com- 
fort at  all.  I  complain  [to  you]  as  to  a  sister.  Per- 
haps you  will  relieve  me  at  least  with  a  letter,  if  you 
write  me  some  words,  dear  sister.  .  .  . 

Stach  has  been  bad,  is  bad,  and  will  be  bad.  So 
long  as  he  was  smaller  he  remained  more  at  home. 
I  begged  him,  "Stach,  remain  at  home  with  your 
mother. ' '  No,  he  rims  away  and  loafs  about.  Well, 
let  him  run.  I  had  his  eyes  wij>ed  [had  him  in- 
structed] as  well  as  I  could;  he  can  read,  write,  and 
speak  English,  quite  hke  a  gentleman.  You  say, 
"Beat."  In  America  you  are  not  allowed  to  beat; 
they  can  put  you  into  a  prison.  Give  them  to  eat, 
and  don't  beat — such  is  the  law  in  America.  Noth- 
ing can  be  done,  and  you  advise  to  beat!  Nothing 
can  be  done;  if  he  is  not  good  of  himself,  he  is 
lost.  .  . . 

I  regret  that  I  took  the  children  from  our  country 
so  soon.  In  our  country  perhaps  they  would  have 
had  some  misery,  and  in  America  they  have  none, 
and  because  of  this  many  become  dissolute.  In 
America  children  have  a  good  life;  they  don't  go  to 

67 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


any  pastures,  but  to  school,  and  that  is  their  whole 
work.  .  . 

52.  When  eleven  years  old  [father  still  living] 
Walter  Dyganski  was  brought  to  court  in  company 
with  three  other  boys,  accused  of  breaking  a  padlock 
on  a  grocery  store  and  attempting  to  enter  the  store 
at  4  A.M.,  March,  1909,  and  also  of  breaking  a  pad- 
lock on  the  door  of  a  meat  market  and  stealing  thirty- 
six  cents  from  the  cash  till.    Put  on  probation. 

August  19,  1910. — Brought  to  court  for  entering 
with  two  other  boys  a  store  and  stealing  a  pocket- 
book  containing  $3.  "He  admitted  to  the  oflScers 
he  and  his  company  were  going  to  pick  pockets 
downtown.  He  is  the  leader  of  the  gang."  The 
officer  beheves  he  is  encouraged  in  his  acts  by  his 
mother.  .  .  . 

Sent  to  St.  Charles. — ^Ran  away  March  17,  1913. 
By  breaking  a  window  got  into  a  drug  store  with  two 
other  boys  and  stole  a  quantity  of  cigars  and  $1.61. 
Having  taken  the  money,  he  gave  one  boy  10  cents 
and  another  5  cents.  He  gave  away  the  cigars — 
eight  or  nine  boxes — to  "a  lot  of  men  and  some  boys." 
Spent  the  money  "on  candy  and  stuflf."  Committed 
to  John  Worthy  School,  .  .  . 

October  27th. — His  conduct  has  improved  greatly; 
released  on  probation.  Work  was  slack;  boy  changed 
three  positions  within  a  month. 

December  23,  1913. — Accused  of  ha\'ing  broken, 
with  an  adult  boy  nineteen,  into  a  clothing  store  and 
filled  a  suit  case  they  found  in  the  store  ^ath  clothing 
and  jewelry.  Caught  in  shop.  The  officer  said:  "He 
would  like  to  imitate  Webb.  He  would  like  to  kiU 
somebody."    According  to  his  own  confession:  "It 

1  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica, vol.  ii,  pp.  219-223. 

68 


IMMIGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 


was  six  o'clock  at  night.  I  was  going  to  confession. 
I  met  a  boy  and  he  said,  'Come  out  with  me.'  About 
nine  o'clock  we  came  to  a  clothing  store,  and  we 
walked  to  the  back,  and  seen  a  httle  hole.  We  puUed 
a  couple  of  the  laths  oflf  and  as  soon  as  we  got  in  we 
got  caught."  But  the  officer  said  that  previous  to 
this  they  had  burglarized  a  butcher's  store  and  took 
from  there  a  butcher's  steel,  and  bored  a  hole  in  the 
wall  with  it.  Committed  to  John  Worthy  School. 
Released  June  26,  1914.  .  .  . 

Jiily  19th. — Shot  in  a  back  alley  twice  at  a  little 
boy  and  once  hit  him.  Broke  with  two  other  boys 
at  night  into  Salvation  Army  office,  broke  everything 
he  could  and  "  used  the  office  as  a  toilet  room."  Next 
day  broke  into  a  saloon,  broke  the  piano,  took  cigars. 
Before  this,  July  14th,  broke  a  side  window  of  a 
saloon,  stole  $4  and  a  revolver.  At  the  hearing 
Walter  said  about  shooting  the  boy:  "That  boy  was 
passing  and  I  asked  him  for  a  match,  and  I  heard  the 
boy  holler.  I  took  a  revolver  oflF  him  [his  companion] 
and  fired  a  shot  and  hit  the  boy."  His  mother  testi- 
fied that  he  had  spent  only  three  nights  at  home  since 
the  time  of  his  release  from  John  Worthy  School. 
He  was  arrested  after  the  first  offense,  but  escaped 
from  the  detention  home.  Committed  to  John 
Worthy  School.  .  .  . 

[Letter  of  Mr.  Millkan,  John  Worthy  School,  Jan- 
uary 4,  1915:]  "...  I  wish  to  recommend  for  re- 
lease .  .  .  Walter  D.  He  has  been  at  the  Worthy 
School  568  days.  ...  I  am  putting  him  on  the  list, 
not  because  I  feel  that  he  will  make  good  on  the  out- 
side, but  because  by  keeping  him  here  we  are  removing 
all  possibihty  of  his  making  good,  and  I  feel  that  for 
his  sake  he  should  be  given  a  chance.  If  he  returns 
to  the  court  he  should  be  sent  to  Pontiac,  where  he 
6  69 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


can  be  kept  from  society  entirely.  He  is  bright 
enough,  but  a  sullen,  surly  character."  .  .  . 

Released  after  March  26ih. — Committed  a  burglary 
in  a  grocery  store,  April  17th.  Shot  a  man  with  a 
revolver  in  the  left  arm  April  4th;  held  up,  with  three 
other  boys,  a  man  on  April  11th,  and  robbed  him  of 
$12.  Caught  later,  while  the  other  boys  caught  at 
once.  Held  to  the  Grand  Jury,  found  "not  guilty," 
and  released  June  16,  1915.^ 

Our  documents  show  that  the  disorderly 
behavior  of  the  immigrant  is  often  connected 
with  some  misapprehension  of  what  he  sees 
and  hears  here.  In  seeking  to  imitate  the 
new  environment  he  naturally  selects  the 
more  pleasurable  aspects — those  giving  ex- 
pression to  his  suppressed  wishes,  perhaps 
gratifying  the  natural  tendency  to  vaga- 
bondage. 

53.  Mary  Ceglarck  vs.  Joseph  Ceglarck.  Married 
twelve  years.  During  this  period  he  deserted  her 
more  than  a  dozen  times,  but  always  returned  after  a 
month  or  so.^ 

But  frequently  he  really  misunderstands 
our  institutions,  seeing  an  identity  in  situa- 
tions which  have  only  a  superficial  or  nominal 
resemblance.  So  much  is  heard  of  divorce 
in  America  that  the  immigrants  have  devel- 
oped a  tradition  that  we  have  no  marriage 

'  Records  of  the  Juvenile  Court  of  Cook  County,  XUinois. 
*  Records  of  the  Chicago  Legal  Aid  Society. 

70 


IMMIGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 


— only  temporary  relations.  A  boy  writes 
to  his  parents  in  Poland: 

54.  You  write  me  whether  I  am  married.  Well, 
no.  America  is  not  the  old  country  where  it  is 
necessary  to  marry  for  your  whole  life.  Here  it  is 
not  sc.* 

An  analysis  of  the  puzzling  cases  of  immi- 
grant crime  shows  that  the  perpetrators 
often  introduce  features  which  they  think 
are  a  part  of  the  proper  procedure  in  the 
case,  but  which  show  a  misapprehension  of 
the  motives  of  the  American  models  which 
they  think  they  are  imitating: 

55.  On  October  20,  1911,  Walter  Shiblawski, 
Frank  Shiblawski,  Philip  Suchomski,  Thomas  Schultz, 
Philip  Sommerling,  and  Frank  Keta  (all  boys)  held 
up  and  killed  Fred  Guelzow,  a  farmer,  who  was  bring- 
ing a  load  of  vegetables  to  Chicago.  They  had  two 
revolvers,  a  bread  knife,  a  pocketknife,  and  a  large 
club.  They  had  been  reading  novels  and  planned  a 
hold-up.  When  Guelzow  was  ordered  to  hold  up 
his  hands  he  promptly  did  so.  They  took  his  silver 
watch  and  chain,  then  killed  him,  mutilated  him 
horribly  with  bullets  and  knives,  and  cut  off  a  piece 
of  his  leg  and  put  it  in  his  mouth.^ 

It  appears  from  the  complete  record  that 
the  boys  were  not  satisfied  with  the  mere 

*  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant,  vol.  ii,  p.  287. 
^  The  details  are  in  the  records  of  the  Coroner's  office,  Chicago. 
71 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


hold-up.  They  were  nonplused  to  find 
that  it  was  aU  over  and  there  had  been  no 
killing.  It  was  not  complete  and  did  not 
correspond  to  a  hold-up  as  they  had  come 
to  understand  it.  So  they  added  the  details 
which  were  lacking.  The  immigrant  child 
is  more  likely  than  an  American  child  to 
follow  the  suggestion  gotten  from  picture 
shows. 

The  person  who  has  been  completely  con- 
trolled by  a  group,  whose  behavior  in  a 
limited  number  of  possible  situations  has 
been  predetermined  by  his  community,  tends 
to  behave  in  wild  and  incalculable  ways,  to 
act  on  any  vagrant  impulse  that  invades  his 
mind,  when  withdrawn  from  the  situations 
he  knows  and  removed  from  the  background 
of  a  permanent  community.  The  result  is 
behavior  that  is  incomprehensible  because 
it  follows  no  known  pattern: 

56.  On  August  29th  at  3  p.m.,  I  was  in  the  house, 
the  following  people  being  present:  Joseph  Stanczak, 
his  wife,  Josephine  Okrasina,  and  myself.  We  drank 
some  beer  and  got  pretty  well  intoxicated.  I  did 
not  drink  anything.  The  two  Stanczak  brothers 
were  arguing  over  $100.  About  nine  o'clock  I  went 
to  bed,  but  I  could  not  sleep.  I  stayed  in  bed  until 
eleven  o'clock.  I  got  up,  put  on  my  trousers,  and 
sat  on  the  side  of  the  bed  until  1  a.m.  And  Con- 
stantine  Binkowski  came  into  the  house  through  the 
kitchen  door.    I  seen  him  through  the  bedroom  door 

7« 


BOnGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 

which  was  open.  I  went  into  the  kitchen  and  took 
hold  of  Feliks  Stanczak  and  put  him  outside  through 
the  kitchen  door  which  I  locked  about  ten  minutes 
later.  Joseph  Stanczak  took  a  bottle,  a  pail,  and 
went  out.  When  Joseph  Stanczak  went  out  Con- 
stantine  Binkowski  came  into  the  bedroom  where  I 
was  and  told  me  I  had  better  get  out  of  the  house  or 
the  two  brothers  would  hck  me.  So  I  took  my  hat 
and  coat  and  shoes  and  went  out  alone  leaving  Mrs. 
Stanczak  asleep  in  the  kitchen  bedroom.  Josephine 
Okrasina  was  sitting  at  the  kitchen  table  and  Con- 
stantine  Binkowski  was  standing  in  the  kitchen.  I 
went  over  to  Peter  Altman's  house  .  .  .  first  floor; 
and  old  lady  Binkowski  let  me  in.  There  I  put  my 
shoes,  coat,  and  hat  on,  and  went  back  to  Stanczak's 
and  entered  by  the  rear  door.  Finding  the  two 
Stanczak  brothers,  Joe  and  Feliks,  I  said:  "If  you 
are  so  strong,  why,  commence  now."  Joseph  ran 
toward  me,  struck  me  with  his  fist  right  by  my  right 
ear.  I  had  a  file  which  I  carried  inside  with  me,  and 
pulled  it  out  of  my  pocket  and  struck  Joseph  on  the 
head  with  it.  He  fell  down  on  his  side  and  then 
Feliks  ran  toward  me  and  I  struck  him  twice  on  the 
head  with  the  file.  And  he  staggered  against  the 
stove  and  called  out,  "Women,  help."  Feliks  ran 
into  the  bedroom  and  Joe  was  about  to  get  up. 
When  I  seen  him  getting  up,  the  file  slipjjed  out  of 
my  hand  and  I  grabbed  the  chair  and  beat  him  with 
it  on  the  head.  The  chair  broke  in  pieces  and  he 
fell  down  again.  I  don't  know  how  or  when  the 
women  got  out,  but  they  were  gone  at  that  time.  I 
went  into  the  front  bedroom  and  got  my  revolver 
which  I  had  bought  from  a  pawn  man  a  few  months 
before.  ...  I  bought  it  with  the  intention  of  killing 
Joseph  Stanczak  after  a  fight  I  had  three  months  ago. 

73 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

I  then  went  to  Joseph  Polowski's.  ...  I  got  there 
about  four  o'clock  .  .  .  and  I  slept  until  about  noon. 
Got  up  and  ate  breakfast,  and  left  there  and  rode  to 
Stephen  Malecki's,  Twenty-sixth  Street.  I  got  there 
about  2  P.M.,  I  changed  into  my  Sunday  clothes  and 
left  there  about  4  p.m.  I  went  dowTitown  to  see  a  show 
on  State  Street.  I  left  the  theater  at  9  p.m.,  and 
then  I  came  home  to  Peter  Altman's  .  .  .  and  slept 
in  the  kitchen  until  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning — 
August  31st.  Then  I  got  my  revolver  and  went  to 
Joseph  Stanczak's.  I  entered  by  the  kitchen  door 
and  went  into  the  bedroom  where  Joseph  Stanczak 
was  sleeping  and  fired  three  shots  at  him.  He  was 
asleep.  There  was  nobody  else  in  the  house  at  the 
time  and  nobody  knew  my  intention  that  I  know  of. 
I  then  went  to  (Altman's)  house,  where  I  sat  on  the 
porch  while  I  emptied  and  cleaned  the  revolver  and 
then  went  to  the  attic  and  hid  the  revolver.  .  .  . 
After  hiding  the  revolver  I  went  down  to  Altman's 
and  went  in  and  sat  there  until  5.30  a.m.  Then  I 
went  upstairs  to  Stephen  Vickes,  where  he  made  up 
a  lunch  for  me,  and  I  went  to  work  at  the  car  .  .  . 
shop.  This  was  September  1st.  I  worked  all  day 
and  went  home  and  slept  in  Altman's  house  and 
went  away.  I  ate  my  supp)er  at  Stephen  Weybeck's, 
Twenty-sixth  Street.  They  mentioned  that  Joseph 
Stanczak  was  dead,  but  I  didn't  answer  when  they 
told  me.  I  went  down  to  Stanczak's  place  and  Jo- 
sephine Stanczak  and  Josephine  Okrasina  and  Bin- 
kowski  was  there.  And  Binkowsld  told  me  that  Joseph 
Stanczak  was  dead,  and  I  answered  that  his  time  was 
come.  The  women  were  in  bed  asleep  and  I  went 
to  bed  and  slept  with  little  John  Stanczak  [his  victim's 
son].  And  no  more  said  about  the  death.  The 
morning  of  September  2d  I  got  up  at  9.30  and  went 

74 


IMMIGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 


to  work.  I  worked  until  1.30  p.m.  At  the  time  I 
was  arrested.  .  .  . 

Qv£stion. — Did  the  wife  of  this  man  ever  make 
you  an  offer  of  $25  to  kill  him? 

Answer. — No,  she  did  not. 

Question. — Weren't  you  living  with  her  just  the 
same  as  if  you  were  married  to  her? 

Answer. — No,  never. 

Question. — Why  did  you  do  this? 

Answer. — I  done  this  just  because  I  knew  that 
this  man  Uved  long  enough.  He  killed  one  in  the 
old  country.    He  cut  a  man  out  there  with  a  razor. 

Question. — ^Was  this  man  in  the  old  country  that 
was  killed  by  Joseph  Stanczak  a  relative  of  yoiu-s? 

Answer. — I  don't  know  this  man  at  all.^ 

We  learn  from  other  sources  that  Opalski 
was  disturbed  by  the  fact  that  he  was  not 
immediately  recognized  as  the  murderer, 
and,  so  to  speak,  claimed  the  crime.  We 
have  other  documents  showing  that  immi- 
grants have  been  pronounced  insane  by  our 
courts,  because  their  behavior  showed  no  sort 
of  consistency,  who  at  home  would  probably 
have  remained  normal,  though  perhaps  diffi- 
cult, members  of  their  communities. 

Another  type  of  demoralization  occurs 
where  a  socially  produced  inhibition  yields 
to  the  prompting  of  an  instinctive  appetite: 

57.  Defendant,  Lithuanian,  naturalized,  fifteen 
years  in  America.   Testimony  of  Mrs.  White:  "I 

'  Confession  of  Joseph  Opalski,  records  of  the  Chicago  Criminal 
Court. 

75 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


live  down  stairs  from  where  these  people  lived  up- 
stairs. .  .  .  She  [defendant's  daughter,  twelve  years 
old]  came  on  Sunday  morning,  28th  of  February, 
and  looked  as  though  she  had  been  crying.  I  says: 
'Anna,  what  is  the  matter?'  She  says:  'Well,  if  I 
would  tell  you,  my  papa  woidd  be  put  in  jail.'  I 
says:  'What  did  he  do?'  'Oh,  he  did  something 
bad  to  me,  he  did  really  wrong.'  And  I  questioned 
her.  ...  I  said,  'Could  that  be  so?'  ...  I  thought 
that  was  pretty  dangerous,  and  as  I  have  a  ten-year 
old  girl  myself,  I  thought  it  best  to  go  to  the 
station."^ 

Communal  habits  of  life  and  the  disposi- 
tion to  regard  any  countryman  as  a  friend, 
make  it  easy  for  the  immigrants  to  exploit 
one  another  in  various  ways,  and  some  of 
them  make  a  business  of  doing  this: 

58.  Defendant  Kasimerz  Marzec  was  engaged 
to  be  married  to  Katie  Dupak,  who  went  with  him 
three  years.  On  his  promise  of  marriage  he  got 
from  her  $200  in  cash.  She  bought  him  a  suit  of 
clothes  valued  at  $25;  he  took  her  watch,  $20;  she 
bought  a  couple  of  rings  valued  $10,  which  he  took 
along  with  him.  The  baby  was  born  and  the  mid- 
wife bill  was  $10,  and  the  baby  died  later  and  she 
paid  $50  for  the  fimeral.  Then  there  was  the  meats 
and  everything  ordered,  $77,  for  the  wedding  feast. 
She  paid  all  this  for  him.  They  were  to  be  married 
September  10,  1915.  He  left  on  September  8,  1915, 
for  parts  imknown.  He  got  back  September  18, 
1916,  and  was  arrested  in  Chicago.    He  said  he 


*  Records  of  the  Chicago  Criminal  Court. 

76 


IMMIGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 


caught  her  talking  to  some  other  fellow.  .  .  .  The 
child  was  born  in  December,  1915.  .  .  .  [Before 
leaving  he  married  another  girl  and  went  with  her 
to  Philadelphia.]  ^ 

59.  I  am  a  married  man  and  live  contented  with 
my  wife  and  two  children  and  could  be  happy  for  a 
long  time  were  it  not  for  the  trouble  that  corrupts 
my  life,  and  that  is  my  conscience,  which  burns  with 
a  hellish  fire  in  my  heart,  which  gives  me  no  minute's 
rest  and  which  will  soon  make  me  give  up  my  happy 
life. 

For  the  past  few  years  I  was  in  business  for  myself 
.  .  .  and  always  worried  about  a  livelihood  until 
this  summer.  I  am  now  an  agent  for  lots  and  sell 
them  to  the  poor  workers  of  New  York.  I  make  a 
lot  of  money  in  my  present  business.  I  make  more 
than  I  ever  could  make  and  this  is  the  cause  of  my 
trouble;  for  I  do  not  consider  myself  as  agent,  but 
an  accomplice  of  a  band  of  robbers  who  are  robbing 
people  right  and  left  in  the  name  of  business. 

The  lots  that  I  have  sold  are  very  far  away,  but 
it  is  so  trickily  done  that  the  trip  with  our  victims 
shall  not  take  over  thirty  to  forty  minutes,  and  when 
we  arrive  at  the  station  the  victims  are  packed  into 
autos  or  large  wagons  and  when  they  are  dragged 
out  of  the  vehicles — tired  and  full  of  illusions  about 
fortunes  that  they  will  now  secure  (we,  the  agents, 
are  filling  their  heads  with  it  dm-ing  the  trip),  they 
are  relieved  of  their  money  so  easily  that  it  is  really 
a  shame.  You  can  imagine  what  it  means  when 
the  chief  of  the  gang  himself  exclaims — after  raking 
in  aU  the  money — in  English,  and  with  a  villainous 
smile:  "It's  really  a  shame  to  take  the  money,  by 
Jesus."    They  are  stripped  of  all  the  money  they 


*  Records  of  the  Chicago  Criminal  Court. 

77 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


possess,  from  $1  up.  Even  if  the  lots  were  sold 
by  a  reliable  company  they  are  being  charged  $200 
for  every  $5  worth. 

How,  then,  can  one  witness  such  robberies?  And 
you  ought  to  see  the  agents!  It  is  a  rather  mixed 
gang.  Some  are  apparently  born  for  that;  they  are 
stout-faced  and  of  large  physical  proportions  so  that 
one  can  at  once  tell  that  they  had  never  earned  an 
honest  cent;  and  then  there  are  Jews  with  'peyos 
[side  locks]  and  whiskers,  dressed  in  half-silk  coats, 
with  pious  faces,  who  always  speak  with  God's  help. 

I  laid  my  eyes  upon  an  Essex  Street  Jew  and  his 
son.  They  are  quite  green  in  the  country,  but  not 
in  the  business.  I  do  not  want  to  bother  you  or  I 
could  fill  a  volume  on  this  little  Jew. 

Among  the  gang  there  is  also  a  Brooklyn  woman 
who  knows  how  to  lure  iimocent  victims  and  extract 
the  last  hard-earned  pennies  from  the  poor  workers. 

Well,  I  think  you  know  enough  to  comprehend  my 
situation.  I  know  how  dirty  is  this  sort  of  business. 
You  can  imagine  how  bad  I  feel  that  when  a  friend 
of  mine  asks  my  advice  as  to  purchasing  some  lots 
in  Brooklyn  ...  I  asked  him  to  purchase  from  me. 

I  have  acquired  gold  out  of  dirt  and  dirt  out  of 
gold.  I  am  satisfied  to  give  up  my  dirty  fortime  if 
I  could  only  get  some  good  advice  as  to  what  to 
do.  .  .  .1 

60.  I  am  a  girl  from  Galicia.  I  am  neither  old 
nor  young.  I  am  working  in  a  shop  like  other  girls. 
I  have  saved  up  several  himdred  dollars. 

Naturally,  a  young  man  began  to  court  me,  and 
it  is  indeed  this  that  we  girls  are  seeking.  I  became 
acquainted  with  him  through  a  Russian  [Jewish] 
matchmaker  who  for  a  short  while  boarded  with  a 


»  Forward,  July  25,  1906. 

78 


IMMIGRANT  DEMORALIZATION 


countryman  of  mine.  He  is  really  handsome  and, 
as  the  girls  call  it,  "appetizing."  But  he  is  poor, 
and  this  is  no  disgrace.  He  became  dearer  to  me 
every  day. 

One  day  he  told  me  he  was  in  want,  owing  to  a 
strike,  so  I  helped  him  out.  I  was  never  stingy  with 
him,  and  besides  money  also  bought  him  a  suit  of 
clothes  and  an  overcoat.  .  .  .  Who  else  did  I  work 
for  if  not  for  him?  In  short,  we  became  happily 
engaged.  .  .  . 

Some  time  after,  we  hired  a  hall  in  Clinton  Street 
and  we  were  on  our  way  to  the  bank  to  draw  some 
money  for  the  wedding  expenses  and  also  to  enter 
the  savings  in  both  our  names.  On  the  way  we 
passed  some  of  his  coimtrymen  who  were  musicians, 
and  we  needed  music,  so  we  stopped  in.  He  intro- 
duced me  as  his  bride.  I  offered  to  have  them  play 
at  our  wedding. 

Incidentally,  I  inquired  about  my  fiance,  and  they 
gave  good  opinions  of  him.  Only  a  musician's  boy 
pitifully  gazed  at  me  and  remarked,  when  my  fiance 
was  not  near  us:  "Are  there  not  enough  people  from 
the  old  country  to  ask  for  their  opinion?"  I  under- 
stood the  hint  and  asked  him  for  an  address,  which 
he  gave  me. 

Meanwhile,  we  were  late  for  the  bank,  and  for- 
tunately, too!  I  could  hardly  wait  for  evening 
when  I  rushed  over  to  his  countryman  and  inquired 
about  him.    They  were  siu"prised  at  my  questions 

and  told  me  he  had  a  wife  and  three  children  in  

Street.  As  I  later  foimd  out,  she  was  the  same  woman 
whom  he  introduced  to  me  as  his  boarding  mis- 
tress. .  .  . 

I  cannot  describe  my  feelings  at  that  time.  I 
became  a  mere  toy  in  the  mouths  of  my  countrymen. 

79 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


But  what  more  could  I  do  than  arrest  him.  But  his 
vdfe  and  children  came  to  court  and  had  him  released. 

I  found  out  of  the  existence  of  a  gang  of  wild 
beasts,  robbers,  who  prey  upon  our  Uves  and  money. 
I  then  advertised  in  a  Jewish  newspaper,  warning  my 
sisters  against  such  a  "fortime"  as  befell  me.  I  was 
not  ashamed  and  told  my  misfortune  wherever  I 
came  and  gave  warnings.  The  East  Side  has  become 
full  of  such  "grooms,"  "matchmakers,"  "mistresses," 
"sisters,"  and  "brothers."  Inquire  of  their  country- 
men.   There  are  plenty  of  their  kind. 

A  girl  from  my  country  also  married  one  of  the 
band,  the  one  who  was  my  former  matchmaker. 
To  the  warnings  that  he  had  a  wife  and  child  in 
Europe  she  replied,  "Well,  if  she  comes  she  will  be 
welcome."  And  good  coimtrymen  did  indeed  send 
for  her  and  she  came  with  a  four-year-old  boy.  Her 
predicament  is  horrible  to  describe.  She  is  poor  and 
lonely  and  my  countrywoman  did  not  welcome  her 
as  she  boasted,  and  her  husband  said,  "Whoever 
sent  for  you  may  support  you." 

So  she  was  forced  to  adopt  the  American  method; 
she  had  him  arrested  .  .  .  and  he  was  sentenced  to 
five  years  in  the  workhouse,  where  there  axe  no  slack 
seasons  nor  strikes.    Who  is  to  blame?  ^ 


1  Forward,  June  7,  1906. 


V 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 

Each  immigrant  brings  to  America  an  indi- 
vidual correlation  of  the  wishes  which  rule 
human  conduct  (see  Chapter  II).  In  one 
the  desire  for  recognition  predominates;  in 
another  the  desire  for  security;  and  so  on 
in  many  variations.  This  individual  organi- 
zation of  wishes  is  what  we  call  character. 
Likewise  each  immigrant  group  as  a  whole 
brings  a  more  or  less  marked  character. 
And  while  we  do  not  ignore  the  fact  that 
character  is  partly  due  to  temperamental 
qualities — the  characteristics  of  the  Swedes, 
the  Jews,  the  Italians,  may  be  connected 
with  their  original,  inborn,  temperamental 
dispositions — it  is  nevertheless  certain  that 
character  in  both  individuals  and  groups 
is  mainly  built  up  by  the  process  which  we 
have  referred  to  above  as  "the  definition  of 
the  situation" — by  gossip,  conversation,  dis- 
putes, doctrines,  by  the  whole  of  the  experi- 
ences and  social  influences  which  modify, 
qualify,  and  organize  the  wishes.    Thus,  the 

81 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

Sicilian  omerta,  the  Catholic  church  and 
confessional,  the  Lutheran  faith,  the  doctrine 
of  anarchy,  the  principle  of  democracy, 
are  more  or  less  dominant  in  defining  the 
situation  in  certain  groups  and  tend  to 
characterize  partially  these  groups  and  their 
members.  We  are  able,  therefore,  to  dis- 
tinguish roughly  various  immigrant  types, 
representing  different  heritages.  It  is  not 
true,  however,  that  we  can  treat  any  given 
immigrant  group  strictly  en  bloc  from  the 
standpoint  of  heritages.  We  find  a  great 
homogeneity  in  this  respect  in  certain  groups 
(and  we  are  inclined  to  assume  more  than 
exists),  but  in  all  groups  certain  individuals 
resemble  individuals  in  other  groups  more 
than  they  resemble  the  average  member  of 
their  own  group.  Thus  a  Jewish  intellectual 
probably  has  more  in  common  with  an  intel- 
lectual of  any  other  group  than  with  a 
ritualistic  Jew.  Certainly  the  difference  be- 
tween an  intellectual  Pole  and  a  Polish 
peasant  is  as  profound  as  possible.  In  gen- 
eral, where  the  process  of  defining  the  situa- 
tion rationally  instead  of  customarily  has  been 
introduced,  a  wide  divergence  will  be  found 
between  individual  members  in  a  group. 

In  this  study  we  do  not  attempt  to  char- 
acterize immigrant  groups  in  their  totality. 
We  are  able  to  study  only  the  types  of 

82 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


attitudes  brought  to  America  by  immigra- 
tion, and  the  following  indication  of  types 
is  made  from  this  standpoint,  though  it  will 
become  evident,  here  and  later,  that  certain 
attitudes  are  more  or  less  peculiar  to  certain 
groups.  The  terms  used  below  are  more  or 
less  arbitrary  and  the  types  are  usually  not 
pure. 

THE  SETTLER 

All  emigration  represents  some  crisis  in  the' 
life  of  the  emigrants.  The  decision  to  leave 
home  is  usually  precipitated  by  some  inci- 
dent of  immediate  significance,  probably 
one  destroying  the  economic  basis  of  life — 
as  where  the  hereditary  land  fails  to  support 
a  growing  family,  or  the  property  of  a  Jew 
is  destroyed  by  a  pogrom.  What  the  peas- 
ant immigrants  call  "securing  an  existence" 
is  practically  always  a  motive.  And  the 
whole  attitude  of  the  immigrant  in  America 
is  frequently  determined  by  the  type  of 
experience  at  home  which  has  led  him  to 
come  here.  The  settler  either  sets  out  with 
a  resolve  to  break  with  the  past  perma- 
nently, to  seek  a  home  in  the  new  country, 
and  transfer  his  interests  to  it,  or  this  may 
become  his  attitude,  perhaps,  after  a  series 
of  hardships  here.  Extremely  and  perma- 
nently hard  economic  conditions,  such  as 

83 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


exist  in  Sweden  and  Norway,  are  favorable 
to  this  decision.  In  general,  when  the  organ- 
ization of  life  at  home,  the  traditional  attitudes 
and  values  resemble  our  own,  the  decision  to 
make  a  home  in  America  is  more  natural. 

61.  In  Hungary  I  had  a  wife,  two  children, 
house,  six  acres  of  land,  two  horses,  a  cow,  two  pigs, 
and  a  few  poultry.  That  was  my  fortune.  This 
same  land  that  afforded  an  existence  to  my  father 
and  grandfather  could  not  support  us  any  longer. 
Taxes  and  the  cost  of  hving  in  the  last  few  years  have 
advanced  so  greatly  that  the  expenses  cannot  be 
covered  from  as  much  as  a  small  farm  can  yield, 

[Things  became  worse,  an  early  spring  storm  killed 
his  crop,  he  had  to  buy  his  bread  for  money.]  My 
horses  were  killed  from  disease.  I  had  to  sell  my 
cow  to  buy  winter  clothes  for  the  family.  There 
was  no  money  to  work  the  land  and  without  horses 
and  work  the  land  will  not  produce.  I  had  to  mort- 
gage my  home.  .  .  . 

As  a  farm  laborer  in  Himgary  can  earn  only  enough 
for  bread  and  water,  how  is  he  to  pay  the  taxes, 
living  expenses,  and  clothing?  There  was  but  one 
hope,  America,  the  golden  land  of  liberty,  where  the 
rivers  and  mountains  are  full  of  gold.  .  .  .  ^ 

We  will  never  go  back  to  Himgary.  It  only 
deprived  us  of  our  home  and  land,  while  in  America 
the  soil  covers  our  child.  We  have  a  home,  money, 
and  business,  everything  acquired  in  America.  We 
lost  everything  in  Hungary.  We  love  Hungary  as 
our  native  land,  but  never  wish  to  live  in  it  again.* 

62.  My  first  recollection  is  that  we  lived  in  a 

*  Janos  Kovacs  of  New  York  City  (interview). 

84 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


very  small  hut  in  the  most  abject  poverty.  When  I 
was  about  seven  years  of  age  I  had  to  go  out  and  look 
after  infants — ^that  was  my  first  occupation — and 
then  I  had  to  tend  geese,  pigs,  and  sheep.  Then  I 
worked  on  the  estate  until  I  was  fourteen  years  of 
age,  when  I  was  confirmed.  I  also  had  a  little  school- 
ing, nine  months  altogether,  two  days  in  one  week  and 
three  days  in  the  next.  The  school  children  were  too 
many,  so  the  boys  and  girls  had  to  attend  school  every 
other  day.  After  I  had  been  confirmed  I  hired  out 
to  a  dependent  farmer,  who  leased  a  large  farm.  My 
wages  were  fixed  at  twenty-five  riksdaler  ($7),  one  pair 
of  boots,  two  shirts,  and  one  pair  of  mittens  a  year. 

Then  I  went  to  another  dependent  farmer,  where 
I  got  herring  five  times  a  day,  must  be  at  the  estate 
at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  work  to  half  past 
eight  at  night,  when  I  had  to  walk  one  and  a  half 
(English)  miles,  get  a  httle  porridge  and  milk  and 
four  hours'  rest. 

I  left  my  parents'  home  the  4th  of  April,  1871, 
and  landed  in  New  York  the  4th  of  May  the  same 
year.  Now  at  last  I  was  in  land  of  promises,  without 
relatives,  without  friends,  and  almost  without  money. 
I  wandered  about  like  a  deaf  and  dumb  man.  My 
ticket  was  to  Chicago  and  I  started  for  that  city,  but 
by  some  mistake  by  the  railroad  people  I  was  sent 
astray.  [At  last  reached  Chicago,  dug  graves  in 
Rosehill  Cemetery,  contracted  malaria  there.]  Now 
I  was  in  the  worst  situation  I  ever  have  been  in  my 
life — sick,  and  without  money  and  friends,  with  a 
two-himdred-n'WaZer  mortgage  on  my  muscles  for 
my  ticket  to  this  coimtry.  As  in  a  dream  I  went  up 
and  down  the  streets  in  Chicago.  Was  this  the  so 
highly  praised  America? 

At  last  I  left  Chicago  and  went  to  Pennsylvania, 
7  85 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

where  I  worked  on  the  railroads  for  about  four  years. 
Then  I  married  a  girl  from  my  own  home  country. 
She  had  a  little  money  and  I  had  saved  some,  so  we 
bought  a  small  place  of  20  acres,  which  we  started 
to  work  up,  bought  three  cows,  one  horse,  and  some 
farm  implements.  We  kept  this  place  for  two  years, 
when  we  sold  it  and  bought  another  of  120  acres  for 
$1,000.  I  sold  50  acres  of  this  and  that  made  us 
free  from  debt.  Now  we  worked  on  this  farm  for  a 
couple  of  years,  when  a  sawmill  in  our  neighborhood 
was  offered  for  sale  and  we  bought  it  for  $2,000. 
Now  I  sawed  timber  both  for  myself  and  others,  so 
within  two  years  I  had  paid  for  the  mill,  but  then 
it  burned  down  and  I  had  no  insurance.  I  built  up 
the  mill  immediately  and  started  to  saw  again.  Now 
I  started  to  buy  larger  and  smaller  pieces  of  wood- 
land and  all  went  weU.  I  sold  my  old  place,  bought 
a  bigger  and  better  one,  started  a  coimtry  store, 
bought  building  lots  in  the  cities,  and  started  to 
build  houses  in  Yoimgsville  and  Jamestown,  New 
York.  To-day  I  have  300  acres  of  land,  a  good  farm, 
a  good  sawmill  with  planing  machinery;  two  stores, 
eight  city  houses,  and  ten  lessees,  who  pay  me  $900 
a  year.  In  the  meantime  I  have  brought  up  eight 
children,  some  of  whom  are  married  now.  I  am 
taxed  about  as  follows:  my  farm,  $3,000;  wood- 
lands, $2,500;  sawmill,  with  accessories,  $3,000; 
horses,  other  cattle,  and  farm  implements,  $1,500; 
timber  on  land,  $3,000;  city  property  in  Youngs- 
ville,  $10,000;  in  Jamestown,  $2,500.  If  I  had 
remained  in  Sweden  I  should  probably  be  a  hired 
man,  or  at  most  a  dependent  farmer.^ 


*  Communication  to  the  Swedish  Emigration  Gsmmission,  Statts- 
tiska  Central  Byran:  Emigrationsutredningen  {Bref  frdn  Svenskas 
i  Amerika),  part  7,  p.  186. 

86 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


63.  [Born  on  a  small  farm  in  Saxony,  worked  from 
fourteen  to  eighteen  hours  a  day.  Had  a  small 
inheritance.  Started  a  small  business  and  lost 
everything.]  I  longed  all  the  time  for  my  first  pro- 
fession, farming;  but  there  was  no  prospect  at  all  to 
become  independent,  because  one  acre  of  good  land 
costed  from  $400  to  $500.  It  happened  occasionally 
at  that  time  I  saw  some  papers  and  pamphlets, 
printed  in  America,  the  contents  of  which  were  quite 
inviting  for  emigrants.  The  prospects  were  painted 
in  the  brightest  colors.  .  .  .  Finally  we  decided  if 
three  quarters  of  the  reports  we  read  in  those  papers 
and  pamphlets  were  exaggerated  and  only  one  quarter 
the  truth,  stiU  the  prospect  would  be  inviting.  So 
we  resolved  to  emigrate.  We  thought  it  advisable 
I  should  go  alone  first  and  look  around  somewhat.  .  .  . 
[Bought  farm  at  Eau  Claire,  Wisconsin,  returned  to 
Germany  and  brought  back  wife  and  four  children.] 

By  and  by  I  found  out  my  place  was  a  so-called 
"rim-out  farm."  The  former  owner  worked  in  the 
winter  time  in  the  logging  camps  where  he  earned 
cash  wages  and  took  to  farming  only  as  a  side  line. 
On  the  120  acres  available  land,  only  about  50 
were  under  cultivation.  He  raised  everything,  but 
preferred  crops  with  the  least  work — wheat,  oats, 
and  timothy  hay;  that  meant  stuff  he  could  sell 
any  time.  The  worst  of  it  was  he  did  not  care  to 
give  the  land  anything  back  and  so  finaly  the  land 
refused  to  give  continually  good  crops.  In  fact,  at 
the  time  I  started  on  that  farm,  some  crops  did  not 
yield  the  seed  back.  My  harvests  were  the  poorest 
among  the  poor  in  the  whole  neighborhood.  In 
those  circumstances  I  got  aware  not  even  that 
quarter  of  the  fine  reports  I  had  read  in  Germany 
was  true. 

87 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


But  what  could  be  done?  I  was  here  and  could 
not  go  back.  I  was  not  discouraged,  but  I  had  to 
change  the  method  of  farming  here  to  that  I  had 
followed  in  Germany,  where  I  had  worked  land 
valued  up  to  $500,  paid  the  interest,  and  laid  some- 
thing by  for  "rainy  days."  Of  course  it  took  years 
before  I  was  acquainted  with  the  different  kinds  of 
soils  I  had  on  my  farm,  but  finaly  I  had  the  best 
success.  After  years  of  intensive  farming,  no  other 
farmer  was  able  to  beat  me  in  the  yield  of  any  crop 
per  acre.  I  tried  my  best  to  inform  my  neighbors 
how  they  could  improve  their  crops,  but  when  I 
foimd  out  my  advice  was  not  wanted  I  had  to  let 
them  alone;  but  I  had  the  satisfaction,  when  they 
could  not  help  to  see  my  success,  to  see  one  after  the 
other  to  accept  some  of  my  methods.  I  got  acquaint 
with  smart  (!)  business  men  in  the  cities  who  told  me 
the  same  thing  as  those  reports  in  the  papers  and 
pamphlets  I  mentioned  above,  that  it  would  be  entirely 
superfluous  to  bother  oneself  with  the  learning  of 
the  Enghsh  language,  because  I  could  sell  everji;hing 
I  had  for  sale  to  them,  and  also  everji^hing  I  needed 
to  buy,  I  could  have  from  them.  For  years  I  was 
foolisch  enough  to  beheve  that,  but  meanwhile  I  took 
the  chance  to  join  my  children  in  their  studies  in  their 
Englisch  schoolbooks  and  from  that  time  I  had  better 
success  in  selling  my  stuff.  I  acquired  private  cus- 
tomers, received  cash,  and  was  able  to  buy  only 
what  I  needed,  and  was  not  compelled  to  take  goods 
which  I  did  not  need,  but  had  to  take  in  order  to 
balance  my  bill  of  trade  in  the  store. 

By  and  by  I  noted  the  condition  of  my  pocketbook 
and  my  bank  accoimt  constantly  improved  in  spite 
of  the  very  low  prices  I  received  for  my  goods.  For 
instance,  I  had  to  sell  for  years  most  of  my  eggs  three 

88 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


dozen  for  a  quarter,  and  a  poiind  of  butter  from  ten 
to  fifteen  cents.  All  other  products  in  same  propor- 
tion. I  got  aware  there  was  no  chance  to  getting 
rich  on  the  farm,  but  working  hard  with  my  good 
wife  and  obedient  children — was  able  to  meet  my 
obhgations  and  knew  I  was  on  the  road  of  progress. 
Of  course  our  personal  living  was  fine,  and  when  I 
corresponded  with  relations  and  friends  in  Germany 
I  truthfully  stated  I  Kve  in  a  coimtry  "where  milk 
and  honey  flows." 

Right  here  I  make  the  statement  that  I  am  con- 
vinced the  main  reason  for  my  success  consisted  in 
the  fact  that  I  kept  correct  accounts  about  aU  my 
affairs.  This  enabled  me  to  decide  the  best  crops 
adapted  to  my  soil,  the  best  for  the  market,  the  best 
live  stock,  etc.  In  short,  it  gave  me  the  most  reliable 
information  of  everything  pertaining  to  the  manage- 
ment of  my  farm.  I  have  started  with  those  records 
already  in  the  year  1866  and  keep  it  up  imtU  to-day. 
There  is  no  guesswork  in  all  my  affairs.  I  am  able 
to  give  the  minutely  accounts  of  everything  pertain- 
ing my  farming  and  also  about  my  household. 

After  I  had  been  here  over  five  years,  one  day  two 
of  my  neighbors  came  to  me  (both  Frenchmen)  and 
asked  if  I  intended  to  stay.  "Why!  sure,"  I  said. 
"Would  it  not  be  foolish  otherwise  to  spend  my 
time  and  money  on  this  farm?"  "Very  well,  then, 
it  is  time  to  do  your  duty  and  make  application  for 
citizenship  and  take  part  in  the  pubhc  and  political 
life  of  this  country."  I  was  quite  perplex,  it  never 
occm-red  to  me  to  have  any  duties  besides  to  rvm  my 
farm  and  pay  my  taxes.  Knowing  my  neighbors 
to  be  very  honest  and  explicit  men,  I  followed  them 
to  the  clerk  of  the  court  where  they  acted  as  my 
spokesmen.    I  received  my  first  paper  and  took  now 

89 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


active  part  in  the  several  elections  and  other  kind 
of  public  affairs.  After  a  few  years  more  I  received 
my  paper  as  a  ful-fledged  citizen.  In  short  succes- 
sion my  neighbors  elected  me  as  road  commissioner, 
as  a  member  of  the  school  board,  and  a  member  of 
the  town  board.  Finaly  they  elected  me  to  the 
office  of  town  clerk.  That  was  now  quite  hard  for 
me.  My  English  was  hardly  sufficient  to  converse 
with  my  neighbors  about  the  most  common  things, 
much  less  sufficient  to  ffil  that  office.  As  I  had  no 
spare  time,  I  had  to  spend  many  nights  in  studying 
the  English  language,  and  I  tell  you  it  was  hard  work, 
because  I  was  already  an  old  boy  of  fifty-five.  I 
was  re-elected  to  that  office  for  five  years  and  mostly 
unanimously,  so  I  have  good  reason  to  beUeve  I  did 
my  duty.  ...  I  am  now  seventy-one. 

It  is  now  thirty-one  years  I  live  in  this  country 
and  have  never  repented  to  come  here.  I  corre- 
spondet  much  with  parties  of  Germany,  and  in  my 
answers  I  never  failed  to  emphasize  the  importance 
for  every  newcomer  to  learn  the  English  language  as 
soon  as  possible.  Other  correspondents  might  be 
correct  by  saying  it  is  not  absolute  necessary,  but  I 
say  it  is  very  beneficial  and  therefore  highly  important 
to  understand  the  official  language. 

This  is  a  short  biography  of  my  existence,  and  I 
am  astonished  to  note  what  a  long  story  it  is.  I 
am  afraid  you  will  feel  very  tiresome  by  reading  it, 
therefore  I  repeat  if  it  is  not  what  you  want,  drop 
it  in  the  waste  basket  and  no  harm  done.  At  the 
other  hand  if  it  proves  to  be  what  you  expect  from 
your  correspondence,  then  I  inform  you  I  could  be 
much  more  in  detail  if  you  will  have  the  kindness  to 
name  the  particulars  you  want  me  to  answer. 

Please  excuse  my  still  very  faulty  English  and  the 
90 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


many  errors  in  the  foregoing.  It  is  not  long  since  I 
learned  to  use  the  typewriter  in  order  to  avoid  the 
cramps  in  my  hand  by  the  use  of  the  pen.^ 

The  settlers  described  above  are  of  the 
pioneer  type.  In  addition,  the  political 
refugee  and  the  fugitive  from  justice  may 
have  the  psychology  of  the  settler,  or,  as  we 
shall  note  presently,  they  may  belong  to 
other  categories: 

64.  [Father]  had  scarcely  ever  known  what  it 
meant  to  be  free  from  anxiety.  First,  from  early 
childhood  it  was  the  fear  of  the  army  where  he  would 
be  compelled  to  violate  the  laws  against  God,  "Thou 
shalt  not  kill,"  and  the  fear  for  the  blind  and  helpless 
mother  he  would  have  to  leave  behind.  In  this  fear 
he  grew  up  to  manhood.  And  then  with  blood 
money,  borrowed  and  saved  on  bread  and  his  mother's 
tears,  he  bought  a  false  name.  Then  his  life  was  in 
constant  fear  of  human  beings,  often  in  fear  of  his 
own  shadow.  Then  being  found  out,  and  all  seeming 
lost,  his  escape  to  America,  then  the  struggle  of  a 
stranger  in  a  strange  land,  which  led  to  only  a  hand- 
to-mouth  existence,  without  any  change,  without 
hope  of  change.^ 

65.  I  have  been  abeady  ten  years  in  this  blessed 
country,  where  there  are  no  passports. 

I  am  doing  honest  labor  as  a  machinist's  assistant. 
In  Russia  I  was  a  plain  criminal.  Yes,  a  criminal. 
I  am  openly  saying  so,  for  that  was  in  my  far-away 
past.  And  it  seems  to  me  that  I  am  si>eaking  not 
of  myself,  but  of  another  unfortimate  man,  whom 

^  Reinhold  Liebau,  Autobiographical  Sketch  (manuscript). 
'  Rose  Cohen,  Out  of  the  Shadow,  p.  211. 

91 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


circumstances  made  a  thief  and  a  forger.  ...  I 
knew  well  what  the  criminal  prison  means  .  .  . 
America  accepted  me  as  I  was.  America  gave  me 
a  chance  to  stand  on  my  own  feet.  I  was  taken  in 
with  my  shameful  past,  as  if  I  were  equal  to  the  best. 
And  I  have  repaid  America  with  respect  that  only 
death  itself  can  take  away  from  my  heart. 

Excuse  me  for  not  signing  my  name.  My  Russian 
name  I  have,  indeed,  thrown  out  together  with  my 
Russian  past,  and  as  to  my  American  name  it  is  a 
clean  one,  and  is  not  guilty  for  the  past  of  the  one 
who  carries  it.  A  Son  of  the  Don.^ 

THE  COLONIST 

We  may  distinguish  two  general  types  of 
success,  according  to  the  standard  in  the 
mind  of  the  individual.  The  one  is  asso- 
ciated with  an  extraordinary  gratification 
of  the  wishes,  or  of  some  of  them — for 
example,  the  "will  to  power" — the  other 
with  their  limitation.  The  small  shopkeeper 
may  be  as  successful  in  his  way  as  a  Napoleon, 
because  his  wishes  are  limited.  The  typical 
settler  has  been  accustomed  to  a  severe 
limitation  of  the  wishes  in  the  home  country 
and  relative  hardship  here  is  considered 
success.  But  in  the  first  generation  of 
immigrants  this  success  is  never  felt  as 
complete.  The  economic  success  may  be 
complete,  from  any  standpoint,  but  there 

1  Letter  to  the  newspaper  Ruaskoye  Slow  (New  York). 
92 


mMIGRANT  TYPES 


are  sentimental  losses.  In  the  Swedish  vol- 
ume containing  document  62  above,  there 
are  128  short  life  histories  of  immigrants, 
and  the  most  general  attitude  in  them  is: 
"I  have  been  successful.  I  have  property. 
My  children  have  superior  advantages.  But 
I  have  lost  my  life.'"  This  means,  of  course, 
not  only  that  the  writer  has  had  a  hard  time 
here,  suflFered  sentimental  losses,  but  that  he 
has  regretful  memories  of  home  conditions,  of 
occasional  leisure  and  festivities,  of  joys  and 
sorrows  shared  by  an  intimate  group. 

We  define  the  colonist  as  one  in  whom 
these  memories  of  home  are,  from  our  stand- 
point, "over  determined"  (to  use  the  psycho- 
analytic phrase):  one  who  never  forgets 
nor  wishes  to  forget,  whose  allegiance  is  to 
the  home  country,  whose  superior  values 
are  the  home  values.  The  English  are  his- 
torically great  colonizers,  and  they  furnish 
good  representatives  of  this  type  in  America. 
The  German  is  also  likely  to  show  the  col- 
onist's attitude,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the 
French,  and  of  any  people  who  have  an 
eminent  position  among  the  nationalities. 
Their  representative  feels  something  akin 
to  the  pride  in  family.  These  are  often 
very  fine  types,  but  the  old  loyalty  yields 
stubbornly  to  the  new,  and  the  subject  is 
usually  careful  to  let  you  know  that  he  is 

93 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


contributing  more  to  America  than  America 
is  contributing  to  him: 

66.  Major  Ian  Hay  Beith,  in  his  delightful  little 
essay  entitled  "Getting  Together,"  gives  some 
advice  to  an  Englishman  as  to  what  he  should  remem- 
ber in  conversing  with,  an  American,  and  to  an  Amer- 
ican as  to  what  he  must  bear  in  mind  in  talking  with 
an  Englishman.  To  the  EngUshman,  he  says: 
"Remember  you  are  talking  to  a  man  who  regards 
his  nation  as  the  greatest  nation  in  the  world.  He 
will  probably  tell  you  this."  To  the  American,  he 
says:  "Remember  you  are  talking  to  a  man  who 
regards  his  nation  as  the  greatest  in  the  world.  He 
will  not  tell  you  this,  because  he  takes  it  for  granted 
that  you  know  already."  .  .  . 

[One  contribution  which  an  Englishman  is  able  to 
make  to  America]  is  the  historic  memory  which 
British  birth  and  education  give  to  a  man.  He 
inevitably  escapes  the  shallowness  of  a  retrospect 
that  is  bounded  by  1776  or  1619,  or  even  by  1492.  .  .  . 
[Another]  contribution  which  ev^ery  immigrant  can 
bring  to  America  consists  in  the  positive  good  which 
he  has  derived  from  the  ci\Tlization  of  his  native 
country.  It  is  at  this  point  that  one  may  seem  to  be 
setting  oneself  up,  in  a  ludicrously  pharisaic  fashion, 
as  an  example.  I  must  therefore  beg  the  reader  to 
understand  that  ...  I  am  thinking  not  of  what  I  am, 
but  of  what  any  EngUshman  ought  to  be.^ 

67.  We  did  not  enter  the  American  nation  as  a 
banished  or  persecuted  race,  seeking  aid  and  pro- 
tection, but  as  part  of  this  nation,  with  equal  rights, 
and  as  part  of  a  noble  people  which  for  more  than 
two  hundred  years  has  found  a  second  home  here 


*  Horace  E.  Bridges,  On  Becoming  an  American,  pp.  39  and  43. 
94 


BIMIGRANT  TYPES 


and,  in  common  with  the  kindred  Anglo-Saxon  race, 
had  founded  and  developed  this  state.  .  .  .We 
protest  most  energetically  [against  the  ideal  of  the 
"melting-pot"]  not  only  because  we  regard  this 
uniformity  as  equivalent  to  the  destruction  of  all 
that  we  regard  as  the  holiest  part  of  our  people  and 
its  culture,  but  because  the  undertaking  itself  appears 
to  the  German  spirit  as  repulsive  as  a  desecration.* 

68.  Emerging  from  the  colony  is  one  pole  of  the 
dreams  [of  the  Hungarian- American  leaders].  The 
other  is  recognition  in  and  by  the  old  country;  the 
desire  to  attain  status,  to  show  that  they  have  made 
good.  In  pre-war  times  this  desire,  always  very 
vague,  crystallized  mainly  aroimd  the  hope  of  a 
governmental  recognition  of  some  sort  or  other, 
perhaps  a  knighthood  of  the  Order  of  Francis  Joseph, 
or  some  similar  decoration  ^ 

69.  The  Sixty-ninth  Street  group  is  the  central 
group  of  the  Sicilians  who  come  from  the  village  of 
Cinisi,  and  those  who  remain  in  this  group  intend  to 
return  to  Cinisi;  in  fact,  most  of  those  who  are  in 
New  York  intend  to  return.  Those  in  the  interior 
cities  do  not  have  this  intention.  My  cousin  from 
New  Orleans  remarked  about  this  fact — namely,  that 
those  in  New  Orleans  are  settled  and  never  talk  of 
Cinisi,  while  here  he  was  surprised  to  hear  them 
constantly  talking  of  the  home  town. 

The  reason  for  this  is  evident.  Here  they  are 
nearest  to  Cinisi.  Here  they  receive  letters  and 
talk  to  the  new  arrivals.  All  those  who  return  from 
Detroit,  Chicago,  or  anywhere  else,  pass  New  York 
and  this  reminds  them. 

*  J.  Goebel,  Der  Kampf  um  deutsche  Kultur  in  Amerika,  p.  11. 
^  Eugene  S.  Bagger,  Hungarian  Intellectuals  and  Leaders  (man- 
uscript). 

95 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


In  this  way  the  town  of  Cinisi  is  always  in  their 
minds.^ 

70.  The  intellectual  atmosphere  prevailing  in 
Polish-American  circles  is  purely  and  exclusively 
Pohsh.  In  every  home  the  conversation  runs  on 
Polish  topics,  the  library  is  full  of  PoUsh  books, 
pictures  reproduce  Polish  paintings,  Pohsh  music  is 
played,  Polish  dishes  served.  I  heard  a  lady  of  this 
circle  pride  herself  on  the  fact  that  when  a  prominent 
Pole  from  Cracow,  who  had  just  come  to  this  country, 
visited  her  (she  lived  then  in  California  with  her 
husband,  in  a  purely  American  town),  she  could  talk 
with  him  about  the  latest  literary  and  artistic  events 
in  Cracow,  and  he  felt  in  their  home  as  if  he  had  never 
left  Poland.  At  this  moment,  I  have  not  met  a 
single  j>erson  belonging  to  this  circle  who  did  not 
talk  about  returning  home  in  the  near  future;  some 
have  been  here  for  fifteen  years.  At  the  same  time, 
every  one  hastens  to  prepare  some  American  values 
which  he  thinks  may  be  useful  in  Poland.  One 
studies  American  economics,  another  American  legis- 
lation, a  third  some  special  Hne  of  industry,  a  foiu-th 
the  American  newspaper  technic.  There  is  one 
who  is  organizing  an  entire  factory,  on  the  co-operative 
basis,  and  expects  to  transfer  it  to  Poland — machinery, 
capital,  workmen,  and  all.^ 

THE  POLITICAL  IDEALIST 

Members  of  the  "oppressed  and  depend- 
ent" nationalities  of  Europe  bring  to  Amer- 

1  Gaspare  Cusumano,  Study  of  the  Cinisi  Colony  in  New  York, 
(manuscript). 

*  Florian  Znaniecki,  Siiidy  of  Polish  Organizations  in  America, 
(manuscript). 

96 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 

ica  forms  of  the  Freudian  "baffled  wish" 
and  of  the  "inferiority  complex."  They  are 
obsessed  by  the  idea  of  the  inferior  status  of 
their  group  at  home,  and  wish  to  be  a  nation- 
ahty  among  other  nationahties.  Their  or- 
ganizations here  seek  to  make  America  a 
recruiting  ground  for  the  battle  in  Europe. 
Consequently  they  wish  first  of  all  to  save 
their  members  from  Americanization,  to 
send  them  home  with  unspoiled  loyalty,  or 
to  keep  them  a  permanent  patriotic  asset 
working  here  for  the  cause  at  home.  They 
regard  America  as  merely  the  instrument 
of  their  nationalistic  wishes.  Their  leaders 
wish  also  to  get  recognition  at  home  for 
their  patriotic  activities  here,  and  superior 
status  on  their  return.  They  speak  of  the 
penetration  of  America  by  their  own  culture. 
Thus  the  Poles,  the  most  ambitious  of  them, 
call  the  Polish-American  community  the 
"fourth  division  of  Poland,"  and  refer  to 
the  whole  body  of  Poles  in  America  as 
^'Polonia  Americana.''  At  the  same  time 
the  material  position  of  the  leaders  of  these 
groups — the  editors,  bankers,  priests — de- 
pends on  keeping  the  group  un-American. 
We  find  that  the  aims  of  these  nationalists 
are  often  more  explicitly  and  naively  stated 
in  communications  sent  to  Europe  than  in 
their  American  publications. 

97 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


71.  This  great  current  of  [Lithuanian]  emigra- 
tion would  have  been  lost  for  the  Lithuanian  national 
cause,  would  have  been  submerged  in  the  ocean  of 
a  great  foreign  nationality,  if  some  great  patriots 
had  not  succeeded  in  organizing  it  and  rendering  it 
refractory  to  assimilation  by  forming  it  into  groups 
and  associations,  by  teaching  it  the  maternal  lan- 
guage, by  creating  parishes,  schools,  and  Lithuanian 
newspapers,  by  the  development  of  pride  of  race, 
respect  for  the  traditions  and  customs  of  its  ancestors, 
and  above  all  the  love  of  native  land.^ 

72.  The  most  powerful  bond  which  unites  emi- 
grants of  the  same  nationality  in  a  strange  country 
is  constituted  by  religion  and  the  church.  Pious 
people  like  the  Poles,  the  Slovaks,  the  Lithuanians, 
etc.,  carry  with  them  their  profound  religious  senti- 
ments. In  their  churches  they  feel  at  home;  the 
church  is  for  them  a  corner  of  their  distant  country. 
Thus  in  America  religion  is  the  most  powerful  source 
of  resistance  to  Americanization,  to  assimilation.^ 

73.  The  task  of  the  intellectual  Ruthenians  will 
be  the  easier  since  many  Ruthenians  Uve  in  America 
and  after  having  amassed  a  certain  sum  return  to 
their  country.  What  is  not  permitted  in  the  country 
of  the  crown  of  Saint-Etrienne  is  permitted  in  the  free 
land  of  Washington.  If  the  Ruthenian  national 
idea  is  firmly  planted  in  America  it  •wall  extend  to 
Hungary.^ 

74.  The  ultimate  meaning  of  all  activities  [of  the 
Alliance  of  Pohsh  Sociahsts]  is  connected  with  the 

*  Jean  Pelissier,  Renaissance  naiionale  Lituanienne,  p.  107. 

2  A.  Kaupas,  "L'Eglise  et  les  Lituaniens  aux  £tats-Unis,"  in 
Annales  des  Naiionaiites,  vol.  ii,  p.  233.  The  writer  is  the  editor 
of  two  Lithuanian  papers  in  America. 

'Y.  Fedortchouk,  "La  question  des  nationalites  en  Austriche- 
Hongrie,"  in  Annales  des  Nationalites,  vol.  iii,  p.  56, 

98 


EVOnGRANT  TYPES 


future  of  Poland,  not  of  America,  and  the  political 
and  social  interests  of  its  members  are  concentrated 
mostly  around  the  question  of  returning  to  Poland 
and  helping  to  organize  Poland.  .  .  .  They  have 
resigned  all  hope  of  playing  a  political  role  in  this 
country,  as  a  party,  and  consider  their  organization 
as  a  training  school  and  a  center  of  future  influence. 

.  .  .  Any  characterization  of  Polish  life  in  this 
coimtry  which  can  be  written  at  this  moment  is  in 
a  large  measure  "mere  history,"  as  a  prominent 
Chicago  Pole  (Zaleski)  expressed  it.  The  war  and 
the  consequent  liberation  of  Poland  is  bound  to  bring 
a  radical  change  of  the  entire  direction  of  evolution 
of  the  Polish-American  society.  The  patriotic  exal- 
tation produced  by  Poland's  oppression,  by  all  the 
preparations  for  national  struggle,  by  the  expecta- 
tion of  Poland's  freedom,  wiU  decrease  very  soon 
among  those  who  decide  to  stay  in  this  country; 
there  will  no  longer  be  the  feeling  of  duty  to  preserve 
Pohsh  ideals  intact,  no  feeling  of  guilt  will  be  con- 
nected with  Americanization.* 

Another  group  of  political  idealists,  em- 
bittered against  the  social  order  represented 
by  the  state  and  by  private  property,  perhaps 
disgusted  with  humanity,  are  the  propa- 
gandists of  some  revolutionary  scheme — 
bolshevism,  anarchy,  communism — ^for  the 
redistribution  of  values.  They  continue  in 
this  country  a  struggle  against  organized 
society  which  they  had  been  carrying  on  at 

*  Florian  Znaniecki,  Study  of  Polish  Organizations  in  America 
(manuscript). 

99 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


home.  They  bring  here  and  exploit  griev- 
ances and  psychoses  acquired  under  totally 
different  conditions.  We  are  sufficiently 
familiar  with  the  type: 

75.  I  hated  the  rich  because  they  are  murderers, 
and  the  poor  because  they  would  become  such  if 
they  had  the  opportunity.^ 

76.  ...  We  must  mercilessly  destroy  all  the 
remains  of  governmental  authority  and  class  domi- 
nation ...  all  legal  papers  pertaining  to  private 
ownership  of  property,  all  field  fences  and  boimdaries, 
and  burn  all  certificates  of  indebtedness — in  a  word, 
we  must  take  care  that  everything  is  wiped  from  the 
earth  that  is  a  reminder  of  the  right  to  private  owner- 
ship of  property.  .  .  ?■ 

76a.  The  bourgeois  is  useless  and  the  govern- 
ment is  unnecessary  for  the  development  of  the 
commercial  and  industrial  life  of  the  p>eople.  ...  It 
is  better  to  die,  and  if  we  are  going  to  die  .  .  .  why 
don't  we  seek  those  who  are  responsible  for  such 
disorders  and  iniquities  and  execute  them?  ^ 

77.  .  .  .  We  have  nothing  against  the  blindness 
of  the  bourgeoisie  and  expect  nothing  else  from  them. 
Because  the  bourgeoisie,  which  includes  lawyers, 
priests,  physicians,  writers,  merchants,  etc.,  have 
the  same  habit  as  a  prostitute;  she  sells  herself  to 
the  one  who  pays  more  money.  .  . 

78.  We  wUl  strive  for  a  revolution  and  we  wiU 

1  Letter  to  Tcyrwari,  February  4,  1918. 

'  Novomirsky:  Manifesto  of  Anarchists — Communists.  Reprinted 
in  the  New  York  Times,  November  10,  1919. 

'  Ctdtura  Ohrera  (Spanish  newspaper.  New  York),  November 
17,  1917. 

*  Robotnik  (Ukrainian  newspaper,  New  York),  April  17,  1919. 
100 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


carry  it  through  to  the  end,  until  every  remembrance 
of  you  shall  be  obUterated.^ 

79.  ...  The  real  cause  [of  the  war]  was  the 
same  damned  trinity — rights  [law],  ownership,  and 
state  [rule].  .  .  .  Down  with  rights!  Down  with 
ownership!  Down  with  the  state!  Let  this  be  the 
death  of  this  three-headed  monster.  Long  live 
anarchism!  In  anarchy  humanity  will  find  happi- 
ness and  eternal  well-being.^ 

80.  .  .  .  Will  you  be  meek  and  slavish?  Will 
you  wallow  under  the  iron  heel  of  your  masters?  Or 
will  you  tear  your  way  by  the  revolution  to  a  better 
and  happier  life?  .  . 

THE  ALLRIGHTNICK 

This  term  is  one  which  the  Jews  of  the  New 
York  East  Side  apply  to  successful  merabers 
of  their  race  who  have  found  a  comfortable 
berth  outside  of  the  Jewish  community  and 
within  the  cosmopoHtan  group  of  the  "Amer- 
icanized" Americans.  There  are,  however, 
other  and  deeper  implications  in  the  term. 
Here  it  is  used  to  characterize  an  oppor- 
tunistic type  which  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
Jewish  race — namely,  the  individual  who 
realizes  a  very  natural  ambition  to  gain 
access  to  and  some  sort  of  recognition,  or 

>  Der  Industrialer  Arbeiter  (Jewish  newspaper,  Chicago),  March 
81,  1919. 

2  Khlieh  i  Volya  [Bread  and  Freedom]  (Russian  newspaper.  New 
York),  April  3,  1919. 

'  II  Diritto  (Italian  newspaper.  New  York),  March  8,  1919. 
8  101 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


at  least  toleration,  in  the  native  American 
community,  or  what  passes  for  it,  but  who 
does  so  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  ideals  of  his 
own  national  and  family  group.  In  the 
case  of  the  Jew,  the  allrightnick  may  simply 
be  a  man  who  has  been  a  socialist,  who  has 
gone  into  business  and  become  a  bourgeois. 
The  mental  type  is  a  familiar  one,  found 
wherever  the  transition  is  made  from  one 
cultural  group  to  another,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  missionary  convert. 

81.  ...  The  poor  Jew  whom  I  now  scrutinized 
more  closely  wore  an  old  shabby  coat,  an  old  cap, 
his  hands  were  black  from  dust  and  cold.  And  his 
face — what  a  face!  Pale,  bony,  wrinkled.  In  each 
wrinkle  there  was  compassion.  And  this  Jew  who 
sells  cookies  on  the  street  has  three  sons  and  a  daughter 
— all  fairly  prosperous! 

"How  is  it  possible?"  slipped  off  my  tongue. 

"You  mean,  of  course,  why  I  am  not  living  with 
them.''  ...  I  did  not  want  to  live  with  them.  You 
understand,  I  cannot  live  among  machines.  I  am 
a  hve  man  and  have  a  soul,  despite  my  age.  They 
are  machines.  They  work  all  day  and  come  home  at 
night.  What  do  they  do?  Nothing.  Wait  for 
supper.  During  supper  they  talk  about  everything 
in  the  world — ^friends,  clothes,  money,  wages,  and 
all  sorts  of  gossip.  After  supper  they  dress  up  and 
go  out.  Where  to?  Either  the  theater,  banquet, 
or  movie.  Or  else  their  friends  call  and  they  drink, 
eat,  and  play  cards;  or  they  start  the  machine  and  it, 
plays  and  they  dance.  The  next  day  again  to  work 
and  so  on  for  the  rest  of  their  life.  .  .  .  They  have 

102 


BOnCRANT  TYPES 


all  been  to  school — educated  people;  but  just  try> 
for  the  fun  of  it,  and  ask  them  if  they  ever  read  a 
book.  Not  on  your  life.  Books  have  nothing  in 
common  with  them;  Judaism  has  nothing  in  common 
with  them;  Jewish  troubles  have  nothing  in  common 
with  them;  the  whole  world  has  nothing  in  common 
with  them.  They  only  know  one  thing — work,  eat, 
and  away  to  the  theater.  How  can  they  do  this? 
I  am  asking  you;  how  can  one  lead  a  life  like  that?" 
And  in  his  voice  there  was  a  deep  anger.  .  .  . 

His  voice  grew  louder  and  became  very  angry. 
"And  I — I  cannot  Uve  hke  that.  I  am  no  machine. 
I  like  to  think,  I  like  to  be  in  good  mood,  I  want  to 
talk  to  people,  I  want  to  get  an  answer  to  my  ques- 
tions. When  I  live  among  shoemakers  I  know  that 
the  shoemaker  is  a  blind  man;  but  when  I  live  among 
educated  people,  then  I  expect  them  to  be  Menschen. 

"  When  I  first  came  here  I  used  to  speak  and  argue 
with  them.  But  they  did  not  understand  me.  They 
would  ask:  'Why  this  and  that?  This  country  is 
not  Russia.    Here  everybody  does  as  he  likes.' 

"  Gradually  I  reahzed  that  they  were  machines. 
They  make  money  and  live  for  that  purpose.  When 
I  grasped  this  situation  a  terror  possessed  me  and  I 
did  not  believe  these  were  my  children.  I  could 
not  stand  it  to  be  there;  I  was  being  choked;  I  could 
not  tolerate  their  behavior  and  I  went  away.  .  .  ."^ 

THE  CAFFONE 

The  Italians  in  America  apply  the  term 
caffone  (literary,  "simpleton")  to  a  man  of 
their  nationality  who  has  the  least  possible 

1  Olgin,  Forward,  February  4,  1917. 

103 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


association  with  any  group,  has  no  regard 
for  opinion,  wears,  for  example,  the  same 
clothes  during  his  whole  stay  in  America, 
avoids  all  conversation,  ignores  his  surround- 
ings, and  accumulates  the  sum  of  money  he 
has  in  mind  as  rapidly  as  possible.  We  use 
the  term  here  to  designate  the  pure  oppor- 
tunist, who  is  unwilling  to  participate  either 
in  the  American  life  or  in  that  of  his  national 
group : 

82.  The  caffoni,  who  were  in  Sicily  mostly  villani 
[serfs],  are  looked  down  upon  by  their  own  people 
and  especially  by  that  class  of  Italians  who  want  to 
stay  here  and  who  feel  injured  whenever  the  Italian 
name  is  hurt.  To  this  superior  class  a  good  name 
for  the  ItaUans  is  a  requisite  of  their  progress.  The 
caffoni  don't  care.  All  they  want  is  to  make  money 
and  go  back.  So  we  often  see  the  superior  class 
preaching  and  speaking  to  the  caffoni  in  meetings, 
in  groups  and  individually,  persuading  them  to  uphold 
the  Italian  name.  The  caffoni  listen,  but  then  they 
shrug  their  shoulders  and  it  is  all  over.  "It  does  not 
give  me  any  bread  whether  Italians  have  a  good 
name  in  America  or  not.    I  am  going  back  soon."  ^ 

THE  INTELLECTUAL 

Our  documents  show  that  the  "educated" 
immigrant  is  usually  more  misadapted  to 
American  society  than  the  workman.  He 

^  Gaspare  Cusumano,  Study  of  the  Cinisi  Colony  in  New  York  City 
(manuscript). 

104 


IMIVIIGRANT  TYPES 


does  not,  unless  he  is  a  technician  (chemist, 
engineer),  bring  a  commodity  which  we 
want  to  buy  (as  does  the  laborer),  and  he 
must  usually  make  such  a  place  as  he  can 
among  his  fellow  immigrants.  Document 
83  shows  the  situation  of  the  intelligentsia 
of  one  group: 

83.  The  characteristic  note  of  the  corporate  Ufe 
of  Hungarian-America  intellectuals  is  one  of  utter 
hopelessness,  born  of  the  consciousness  of  isolation, 
both  from  the  main  currents  of  American  and  of  old- 
country  life,  and  of  the  realization  of  the  doom  hang- 
ing over  the  American-Hungarian  community.  This 
is  the  paradox  of  the  immigrant  colony — that  it  is 
constantly  losing  its  best  element,  which  manifests 
its  superiority  just  by  being  able  to  detach  itself  and 
to  merge  into  the  larger  American  life.  .  .  .  There 
are  new  "movements"  every  now  and  then  to  "organ- 
ize" American  Hungariandom  ["  amerikai  magyarsag," 
a  collective  term  hke  Deutschtum],  The  conscious 
or  avowed  piu-poses  of  these  movements  vary;  their 
common  unconscious  element  is  to  make  a  showing 
of  some  sort,  to  prove  [for  themselves]  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  a  Hungarian-American  culture  and 
a  Hungarian- American  future;  but  these  movements 
invariably  collapse  or  die  of  sheer  inertia.  The 
Himgarian-American  socialist  press  is  wont  to  attack 
these  movements  as  mere  attempts  at  organized 
graft,  and  undoubtedly  there  is  an  element  among 
the  "leaders"  which  is  trying  to  exploit  these  cam- 
paigns for  personal  gain.  Nevertheless,  it  is  plain 
that  there  is  some  moral  purpose  behind  them — 
factors  ranging  from  personal  vanity  and  craving 

105 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


for  prestige  to  a  genuine,  though  vague,  yearning 
for  spiritual  achievement.  Hungarian-American  in- 
tellectuals are  obsessed  by  a  p>ecuhar  megalomania 
centering  about  the  "mission"  and  greatness  of 
"Himgarian-Americandom."  Nobody  ever  tried  to 
define  what  this  mission  is,  but  it  is  constantly 
spoken  of.  This  megalomania  seems  to  be  the  con- 
verted expression  of  a  manifold  inferiority  complex — 
the  resultant,  perhaps,  of  the  following  complexes: 
(1)  The  "oppressed  race"  complex.  Magj'ar  chau- 
vinism is  just  the  result  of  a  feeUng  of  inferiority 
as  compared  to  Austria,  of  playing  the  second  fiddle 
within  the  monarchy,  of  the  fear  of  being  classed  by 
Europeans  as  a  Balkan  race.  (2)  The  inferiority 
complex  of  the  irmnigrant,  the  "himky."  (3)  The 
individual  inferiority  complexes  of  men  who  have 
proved  failures  at  home. 

These  movements — I  am  almost  tempted  to  say 
revivals — are  bound  to  fail  chiefly  for  three  reasons: 
(1)  The  absence  of  a  clearly  defined  program,  of 
a  nonfictitious  moral  piupose;  (2)  the  fatal  Magyar 
tendency  to  dissent,  similar  to  the  Polish  national 
disease  [in  Hungary  they  call  it  the  "Turanian 
curse"],  unwillingness  to  self-renunciation  and  co- 
ordinated effort;  (3)  the  sameness  of  the  personnel. 
This  last-named  is  the  pecuharly  Himgarian- American 
factor.  In  the  old  country  there  are  always  reserves 
to  draw  upon,  there  is  "fresh  blood";  here,  especially 
since  the  war,  it  is  always  the  same  few  dozens  of 
people,  in  different  groupings  and  alignments,  but 
the  same  individuals.  I  aroused  against  myself  the 
Hungarian  intellectuals  of  Cleveland  by  saying  that 
Himgarian-American  society  reminds  me  of  a  bunch 
of  gamblers  marooned  on  a  desert  island  and  engaged 
in  a  desperate,  endless  game — each  trying  to  live  on 

106 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


his  winnings  from  the  rest,  but  nobody  producing 
new  values.^ 

There  is  a  type  of  intellectual,  the  product 
of  a  superior  and  systematic  training,  who 
comes  rarely  but  who  can  contribute  par- 
ticular values  to  the  culture  of  any  nation- 
ality. Now,  modern  progress  evidently 
depends  in  part  on  communication  in  space, 
on  the  ability  to  assemble  from  all  parts  of 
the  world  values  which  happen  to  exist 
there.  Economic  efficiency,  for  example, 
does  not  reject  any  value  because  it  is  for- 
eign. But  it  appears  that  of  all  the  immi- 
grants who  come  we  are  least  prepared  to 
receive  the  foreign  intellectual,  who  is  at 
the  same  time  the  type  of  immigrant  best 
fitted  to  make  a  cultural  contribution. 

Very  often  the  intellectual  who  comes 
here  has  been  a  failure  at  home  or  is  a  pre- 
destined failure  anywhere,  but  will  never- 
theless attribute  his  failure  here  to  America's 
inability  to  appreciate  him.  But  document 
84  is  from  a  really  superior  man.  In  addition 
to  the  criticism  of  America,  it  reveals  the 
psychology  of  the  Polish  intellectual: 

84.  [Was  positively  influenced  in  America  by  the 
democratic  idea,  revised  my  former  contempt  for 

'  Eugene  S.  Bagger,  Hungarian  Intellectuals  and  Leaders  (man* 
uscript). 

107 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


economic  considerations,  learned  to  appreciate  the 
social  idealism,  the  active  interest  in  other  people's 
weKare,  the  wiUingness  to  make  a  sacrifice  for  a 
humanitarian  cause — oftener  met  here  than  in  any 
European  society  except  the  Polish — and  the  free, 
direct,  and  sincere  attitude  toward  phenomena  which 
characterizes  the  good  American  worker.]  Li  other 
lines,  however,  I  have  hardly  come  any  nearer  to 
American  life.  Two  reasons  prevented  my  "Amer- 
icanization" in  the  deeper  sense  of  the  term;  the 
divergencies  which  I  began  to  discover  after  a  longer 
stay  in  this  country  between  most  of  the  aspirations 
actually  predominant  in  American  society  and  cer- 
tain ideals  which,  in  my  cosmopolitan  training,  I 
have  learned  to  revere  as  the  best  part  of  the  general 
human  civilization,  independent  of  national  differ- 
ences; and — more  particularly — the  attitude  of 
American  society  toward  foreigners  and  foreign 
values.  .  .  . 

[Among  other  things]  there  is  the  lack  of  social 
freedom,  the  oppression  of  the  individual  by  all  kinds 
of  traditional  or  recently  created  social  norms.  I 
have  not  seen  in  Europe  anything  comparable  to  it 
except,  perhaps,  in  small  and  very  isolated  provincial 
towns.  Since  I  am  not  poUtically  active,  this  social 
tyranny  affects  me  much  more  than  any  amoimt  of 
political  despotism  could  do,  particularly  as  it  extends 
to  the  intellectual  domain.  I  feel  more  bound  in 
the  expression  of  my  opinions  here  than  I  felt  under 
Russian  censorship  in  Warsaw,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  I  am  not  in  the  slightest  measure  inclined  toward 
political,  social,  moral,  or  religious  revolutionism  of 
any  kind,  and  was  considered  in  Europe,  even  by  the 
most  radical  conservatists,  a  perfectly  "inoffensive," 
mildly  progressive  intellectualist.  .  .  . 

108 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 

And  yet,  I  am  sincerely  interested  in  America — 
but  in  the  future  rather  than  in  the  present  America. 
I  could  work  with  real  enthusiasm  for  the  progress 
of  American  culture  in  the  intellectual  line,  in  which 
I  can  be  most  efficient  and  in  which  progress  seems 
most  needed;  I  am  siu'e  that  I  could  be  really  useful 
to  this  country,  produce  some  really  important 
cultural  values.    But  my  incipient  enthusiasm  for 
American  cultural  development  never  has  any  chance 
to  mature,  because  I  realize  at  every  moment  that 
American  society  does  not  feel  any  need  of  my  or 
any  other  "foreigner's"  co-operation,  is  in  general 
perfectly  satisfied  with  itself,  and  perfectly  able  to 
manage  its  own  futiu-e  in  accordance  with  its  own 
desires,  to  create  all  the  values  it  wants  without 
having  any  "imported"  values  "thrust  upon  it." 
In  analyzing  the  evolution  of  my  attitudes  toward 
this  country,  it  seems  to  me  that  much  of  my  growing 
criticism  and  dissatisfaction  with  American  condi- 
tions has  been  due  to  the  gradual  reahzation  of 
this  self-complacency  of  American  society.  ...  In 
France,  in  Germany,  in  Italy,  in  Poland,  this  attitude 
manifests  itself  toward  other  national  groups,  but  not 
toward  individual  foreigners  when  they  come  to  live 
and  work  in  the  country.    On  the  contrary,  I  have 
experienced  myself,  during  my  travels  abroad,  and 
I  have  seen  manifested  toward  incomers  in  Poland 
(unless  they  were  members  of  the  oppressing  nation) 
an  attitude  which  I  may  call  "intellectual  hospi- 
tality," a  tendency  to  learn,  to  appreciate,  and  to 
utilize  whatever  values  the  foreigner  may  bring  with 
him,  unless,  of  course,  he  brings  nothing  but  unskilled 
labor.    No  European  society  I  know  acts  as  if  it 
possessed  and  knew  everything  worth  while  and  had 
nothing  to  learn,  whereas  this  is  precisely  the  way 

109 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


American  society  acts  toward  a  foreigner  as  soon  as 
he  ceases  to  play  the  role  of  a  passing  "curiosity" 
and  wants  to  take  an  active  part  in  American  life.  I 
do  not  think  most  Americans  realize  how  revolting 
to  a  more  or  less  educated  immigrant  is  their  naive 
attitude  of  superiority,  their  astonishing  self-satis- 
faction, their  inability  and  unwillingness  to  look  on 
anything  foreign  as  worth  being  understood  and 
assimilated.  This  may  work  with  the  peasant  who 
is  used  in  the  old  country  to  attitudes  of  superiority 
on  the  part  of  the  higher  class,  is  desirous  of  imitating 
them,  and  finds  in  this  country  exactly  the  same 
atmosphere,  only  connected  with  an  unknown  lan- 
guage and  unknown  institution  which  make  real 
imitation  more  difficult.  But  I  believe,  judging  even 
less  by  my  own  experience  than  by  the  confidences 
of  others,  that  the  unanimously  critical  standpoint 
taken  toward  this  country  by  all,  even  if  only  half 
educated  and  socially  dependent,  immigrants  and 
their  universal  attachment  to  and  idealization  of 
the  "old  country"  values,  are  provoked  by  this 
"lording  it  over"  the  immigrant,  his  traditions,  his 
ideals,  by  this  implicit  or  explicit  assumption  that 
Americanization  necessarily  means  progress,  that 
the  immigrant  should  simply  leave  all  he  brought 
with  him  as  worthless  stuff — worthless,  at  least,  for 
this  country — and  instead  of  trying  to  introduce  the 
most  valuable  elements  of  his  culture  into  American 
life  and  select  the  most  valuable  elements  of  Amer- 
icanism for  himself,  should  merely  accept  everything 
American  just  as  it  is. 

In  the  same  line,  and  perhaps  even  more  revolting 
for  the  reflecting  foreigner  who  comes  with  the  idea 
of  working  and  settling  in  this  country,  is  the  current 
tendency  of  American  society  to  interpret  the  rela- 

110 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


tion  between  the  immigrant  and  America  as  that  of 
one-sided  benefit  and  one-sided  obHgation.  This  is 
again  an  attitude  which  I  have  never  met  in  Europe, 
though  European  countries  are  incomparably  more 
crowded  than  America.  .  .  . 

I  may  have  overlooked  some  important  elements 
of  American  civilization,  but  this  does  not  seem  to 
be  the  main  point.  No  individual  can  assimilate  all 
the  values  of  a  modern  civilized  society,  and  I  know 
many  Americans  for  whom  American  civilization 
contains  and  means  much  less  than  it  does  for  me. 
And  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  unbiased  view  of 
life;  the  only  question  is  whether  a  certain  bias  is 
due  to  an  uncritical  acceptance  of  locally  and  tem- 
porarily limited  social  traditions  which  have  no 
positive  significance  for  general  human  progress,  or 
to  a  critical,  even  if,  perhaps,  too  exclusive,  appre- 
ciation of  certain  values  reflectively  selected  from 
the  whole  stock  of  human  culture  and  constituting 
an  important,  even  if  not  necessarily  the  most  impor- 
tant, component  of  every  civilization,  in  all  epochs 
and  all  societies.  Now,  my  personal  bias  is  certainly 
no  longer  a  class  bias.  If  there  are  any  specific  class 
attitudes  persisting  subconsciously  in  my  personality 
— and  I  do  not  think  there  are — they  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  actual  problem  of  my  adaptation  to 
American  conditions.  Nor  is  my  bias  in  any  par- 
ticular way  national.  However  great  may  have 
been  the  role  which  Polish  national  ideals  have  played 
in  my  life,  my  psychology  seems  to  me  less  specifically 
national,  contains  less  particularly  racial  elements, 
than  that  of  any  individual,  Pole,  Frenchman, 
Italian,  German,  Russian,  American,  I  have  ever 
met.  ...  I  have,  at  various  times,  actively  partici- 
pated in  the  intellectual  life  of  three  diflFerent  societies 

111 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


besides  my  own — French,  Swiss,  and  American — 
using  in  each  case  a  different  language,  needing  each 
time  only  a  few  months  of  preparation,  and  mixing 
intimately  with  the  respective  groups.  This  fact 
seems  to  me  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  lack,  on  my  side, 
of  any  racial  obstacles  to  my  adaptation.  INIy  bias, 
is,  if  anything,  a  professional  bias.  I  certainly  have 
an  exalted  conception  of  the  fimction  which  the 
scientific  profession  can  and  should  fulfill  in  human 
society — one  which  entitles  it  to  demand  that  min- 
imum of  favorable  social  conditions  which  is  abso- 
lutely indispensable  for  intellectual  productivity. 
I  also  believe  that  all  scientists  have  an  obligation 
to  maintain  certain  professional  ideals,  the  most 
important  of  which  are  continual  perfecting  of  the 
standards  of  theoretic  validity  in  so  far  as  compatible 
with  intellectual  efficiency  on  the  given  stage  of 
human  development;  disinterestedness  of  theoretic 
pursuit,  the  only  personal  reward  which  the  scientist 
has  the  right  to  expect  being  recognition  based 
exclusively  on  the  objective  importance  and  intrinsic 
perfection  of  his  work  and  therefore  necessarily  slow 
to  come  and  Hmited  to  the  most  intellectual  part  of 
society;  freedom  of  mind  and  sincerity  of  expression; 
enthusiasm  for  scientific  work  and  for  the  develop- 
ment of  human  knowledge  in  general;  and,  finally, 
"true  brotherhood"  of  all  scientific  workers  in  the 
domain  of  science,  manifested  in  reciprocal  interest, 
serious  and  thorough  criticism,  deserved  apprecia- 
tion, encouragement  and  help  in  intellectual  pursuits. 
And  all  this  is  independent  of  differences  of  class, 
race,  religion,  etc.,  which  may  divide  scientists  as 
social  individuals,  as  members  of  concrete  groups, 
in  other  fields  of  cultural  life.^ 


Autobiography  (manuscript). 

112 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


85.  ...  I  was  naturally  deeply  interested  in 
the  Polish  writer's  analysis  [document  84  above]  of 
phenomena  with  which  I,  too,  find  myself  confronted, 
and  on  the  whole  I  was  inclined  to  accept  his  con- 
clusions. ...  I  felt,  however,  that  he  would  have 
strengthened  his  case — the  case  of  the  European 
intellectual  against  intellectual  America — by  pre- 
senting, simultaneously,  the  case  against  himself. 
It  is  true  that  European  intellectuals  are  Invariably 
dissatisfied  with  American  life;  much  of  the  bitter- 
ness with  which  they  criticize  American  conditions  is 
doubtless  justified.  But  in  the  interest  of  fair  play 
the  question,  "What's  the  matter  with  intellectual 
America?"  ought  to  be  supplemented  with  this  other 
one,  "What's  the  matter  with  the  Eiu-opean  intel- 
lectual in  America.''"  This  implies  what  the  Polish 
writer  has  neglected — an  analysis  of  the  analyzer. 

First  among  the  sources  of  discontent  with  which 
the  European  intellectual  confronts  American  life 
is  the  lowering  of  his  status.  .  .  .  An  attempt  to 
fix  his  own  place  on  the  social  ladder  will  lead  him 
to  the  realization  that  he  was  better  off  in  aristocratic 
Europe  than  in  democratic  America.  For  in  Europe 
he  belonged — if  he  achieved  any  recognition  at  all — 
to  the  upper  middle  class.  Even  a  moderate  degree 
of  literary  or  artistic  eminence  secured  him  admission 
to  the  most  interesting  quarter  of  a  society  where 
money,  however  important,  was  never  the  sole  cri- 
terion of  gentility.  In  all  European  capitals  there 
are  certain  centres  of  social  intercourse  where  members 
of  the  three  aristocracies  of  birth,  riches,  and  intellect 
meet  in  a  congenial  atmosphere  and  on  a  basis  of 
full  equaUty.  .  .  . 

The  European  intellectual  will  then  turn  to  an 
analysis  of  his  economic  status  and  wiU  find  it  worse 

113 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


than  it  was  in  pre-war  Europe.  Probably  he  made 
much  less  money  in  dollars  and  cents,  even  at  the 
old  rate  of  exchange;  but  his  smaller  income  insm-ed 
to  him  a  higher  place  in  the  social  hierarchy  and  a 
much  greater  amount  of  comfort.  .  .  .  The  Sunday 
afternoon  spectacle  of  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
automobiles,  filled  with  festive  families  bound  nowhere 
in  particular  and  beaming  with  the  happiness  of 
dreams  come  true,  serves  chiefly  to  impress  him  with 
the  meaning  of  the  American  slang  phrase,  "all 
dressed  up  and  no  place  to  go." 

Europe  was  different.  The  things  he  craves  for, 
books,  engravings,  theatre  and  concert  tickets,  good 
clothes,  good  home-furnishings,  were  comparatively 
much  cheaper  there.  Above  all,  travel  was  much 
cheaper.  The  fare  from  Vienna  to  London,  from 
Budapest  to  Stockholm,  was  less  than  from  New 
York  to  Cleveland;  and  why  go  to  Cleveland,  anyhow? 
A  Vienna  journalist,  a  Cracow  college  professor,  a 
Budapest  art  critic,  not  the  leaders  of  their  profession, 
just  good  average,  could  go  for  a  month's  vacation 
to  Switzerland  or  Belgium  or  a  Baltic  resort  or  Flor- 
ence, live  well,  and  spend  less  than  at  home.  For 
the  same  class  of  person  in  America  that  sort  of  thing 
is  about  as  feasible  as  spending  the  week  end  in  the 
moon.  In  a  word,  in  America,  where  he  has  to  work 
much  harder  and  makes  more  money,  the  European 
intellectual  will  find  that  this  income  leaves  him 
socially  an  outcast  and  qualifies  him  for  less  sub- 
stantial material  comfort  than  is  enjoyed  by  his 
grocer. 

One  has  to  be  a  thoroughbred  continental  to  appre- 
ciate another  factor  which,  to  an  untraveled  American, 
may  seem  utterly  trivial.  I  mean  the  absence  of 
the  continental  type  of  cafe.  .  .  .  The  literary  cafe 

114 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


of  the  continental  capital  is  a  place  where  men  of 
similar  tastes  and  interests  may  drop  in,  without 
any  formality,  at  teatime  and  after  supper,  and  be 
sure  of  finding  congenial  company,  briUiant  repartee, 
interesting  gossip,  or  substantial  shop  talk,  according 
to  what  he  seeks.  .  .  .  The  brilliancy  of  surround- 
ings, the  presence  of  beautiful  and  well-dressed 
women,  the  possibility  of  meeting  new  people,  often 
important  foreigners — these  elements  all  converge 
to  create  an  atmosphere  of  an  extraordinarily  stim- 
ulating character.  There  is  nothing  in  American 
life  that  even  remotely  corresponds  to  this  stimulus, 
and  the  life  of  literary  cafes  is  missed  by  the  conti- 
nental intellectual  as  a  drug  is  missed  by  its  habitue. 

But  the  absence  of  these  easily  accessible,  stand- 
ardized meeting  places  of  intellectuals,  open  to  all 
who  have  the  price  of  a  demitasse,  has  another,  still 
subtler  effect.  For  the  intellectual,  constant  inter- 
course with  his  equals  acts  not  only  as  a  stimulus, 
but  also  as  a  check.  It  is  written  that  it  is  not  good 
for  a  man  to  be  alone.  Rubbing  up  against  his 
compeers  is  as  necessary  for  the  intellectual  as 
gnawing  at  hard  substances  is  necessary  for  a  squirrel's 
teeth.  Isolation  for  him  results  in  a  sickly  over- 
estimation  of  his  importance,  a  hypertrophied  sensi- 
tiveness and  that  notion  of  omnipotence  which  comes 
from  the  absence  of  tests.  A  constant  reiteration 
of  ''Hie  Rhodus,  hie  salta"  is  a  good  cure  against 
intellectual  megalomania;  but  for  the  European 
litterateur  American  is  not  Rhodes.  Just  as  the 
lack  of  academic  standards  favors  an  individualism 
that  frequently  is  mere  crankiness,  the  lack  of  intel- 
lectual give-and-take  may  result  in  an  elephantiasis 
of  self-consciousness.  .  .  . 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  elements  of  a  state  of  mind 

115 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


which  inevitably  expresses  itself  in  overestimation 
of  self  and  underestimation  of  surroundings.  The 
conditions  analyzed  do  not  necessarily  imply  that 
American  culture  is  inferior  to  European;  but  they 
do  determine  a  feeling  in  the  European  intellectual 
that  American  life  is  less  exciting,  less  stimulating, 
less  interesting,  less  worth  while.  .  .  .  Out  of  this 
maze  of  factors — the  lowering  of  economic  and  social 
status,  lack  of  habitual  and  easy  contact  with  one's 
peers,  absence  of  the  stimidi  of  metrojxtlitan  life, 
difficulties  of  everyday  technique,  struggle  for  self- 
expression  through  an  unyielding  idiom,  etc. — rises 
a  state  of  mind  for  which  American  conditions  are 
responsible  without  necessarily  being  at  fault.  The 
characteristic  tendency  of  this  mentality  is  to  make 
"America"  a  symbol  of  one's  own  failures  and 
unfulfilled  desires. 

The  pivot  around  which  this  psychology  turns  is 
the  Canaan-complex — that  perermial  yearning  for  the 
land  where  everything  will  be  what  it  is  not;  the 
longing  for  the  tabula  rasa,  for  the  new  start.  The 
fuller,  the  more  differentiated  the  life  the  European 
intellectual  leaves  behind  when  he  comes  to  America 
the  more  probably  will  he  discern  the  mistakes  of 
that  life,  and  the  more  certainly  will  he  wish  to 
arrange  matters  differently  in  the  "new  world." 
The  intellectuals  of  the  generation  that  attained 
maturity  on  the  eve  of  the  war  were  afflicted  with 
the  disease  of  sesthetic  inertia — Stimmungsanarchie, 
a  clever  German  critic  called  it.  For  many  who 
diagnosed  the  trouble  America  stood  as  the  symbol 
of  success  and  energy.  What  a  man  of  this  type 
expected  from  America  was  not  political  democracy, 
not  even  equal  economic  opportunity — ^he  knew 
enough  of  America  to  discount  these  catchwords; 

116 


IMMIGRANT  TYPES 


but  he  hoped  for  a  new  milieu,  free  from  the  sophisti- 
cations, the  noblesse  oblige,  the  hothouse  atmosphere 
of  the  old  world.  What  he  expected,  in  brief,  was 
the  rebirth  of  personality  in  and  by  America.  Now 
the  one  thing  the  European  intellectual  is  certain  to 
discover  in  America  is  that  crossing  the  ocean  does 
not  change  a  man;  that  a  personality  may  develop, 
expand,  differentiate  by  the  experience  of  America, 
but  it  will  not  be  reborn.  Disappointment  in  America 
is  determined  by  the  act  of  embarking  for  it;  arrival 
reveals  the  Promised  Land  as  a  delusion;  the  symbol 
of  new  life  turns  into  the  symbol  of  discrepancy 
between  dream  and  reality. 

But  this  disappointment  is  merely  the  negative 
side  of  a  rising  new  hope;  the  image  of  Canaan  fades 
out  before  the  vision  of  the  Golden  Age.  To  the 
disenchanted,  intellectual  Europe  emerges  in  a  roseate 
mist  of  dreams  and  expectation.  That  Europe, 
however,  is  not  the  actual  Europe,  not  even  pre-war 
Europe;  it  is  merely  a  reversed  America.  Whatever 
one  faUs  to  find  here  is  idealized  into  what  was  left 
behind.  For  the  central  fact  of  the  European  intel- 
lectual's discontent  in  America  is  the  disparity  of 
his  bases  of  comparison.  He  contrasts,  not  America 
with  Europe,  but  a  nightmare  of  American  reality 
with  a  non-existent  Eldorado  which  he  calls  Europe 
— the  Cosmopolis  built  with  the  brick  of  memory 
and  the  mortar  of  hope. 

By  insisting  that  criticism  of  American  cultural 
conditions  by  European  intellectuals  be  discounted 
along  the  suggested  lines,  I  do  not  mean  to  belittle 
the  value  of  such  criticism.  On  the  contrary,  I 
believe  that  its  very  real  and  distinctive  merit  is 
brought  into  relief  when  due  allowance  has  been 
made  for  the  subjective  element  in  it,  the  inevitable 

9  117 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


tendency  of  the  critic  unconsciously  to  paraphrase 
his  experience  from  the  category  pleasant-unpleasant 
into  the  category  superior-inferior,  to  rationalize 
personal  likes  and  dislikes  into  absolute  standards 
of  value.  I  believe  that  the  Europ>ean  intellectual 
not  only  exercises  a  right,  but  discharges  a  very  sub- 
stantial duty  by  applying  his  native  standards  to  a 
fearless  examination  of  American  culture.  He  may 
be  prone  to  exaggerate  the  value  of  his  contribution, 
and  to  expect  special  regard  and  compensation  from 
a  public  none  too  appreciative  of  intellectual  achieve- 
ment at  the  best;  he  may  even  develop — as  did  the 
anonymous  Polish  author — a  redeemer-complex  and 
establish  a  fixed  relation  between  the  recognition 
meted  out  to  him  by  Aonericans  and  the  salvation 
of  the  American  soul.  But  this  tendency  is  merely 
the  counterpart  of  the  no  less  unreasonable  assmnj>- 
tion  of  native  Americans  that  foreigners  owe  a  special 
debt  of  gratitude  to  this  coimtry  for  opportunities 
accorded,  as  if  Americans  admitted  foreigners  and 
provided  them  with  jobs  because  they  love  them, 
and  not  because  they  need  them.  By  helping  to 
pierce  the  aes  triplex  of  American  self-complacency 
and  to  battle  that  intolerance  of  dissent  and  that 
glorification  of  buncombe  which  are  the  greatest 
intellectual  dangers  of  America  the  educated  European 
may  perform  a  very  real  service,  but  he  must  not 
forget  that  his  contribution  to  the  growth  of  American 
culture  is  measured  by  the  growth  of  his  own  per- 
sonality.^ 


•  ^  Statement  of  Eugene  S.  Bagger  (Magj-ar  intellectual)  made  at 
our  request  (manuscript). 


VI 


IMMIGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 

There  is  an  obvious  resemblance  between 
the  behavior  of  a  Russian  mir  or  a  South 
Slav  zadruga  (see  documents  21,  22,  23, 
p.  31)  and  that  of  a  pack,  flock,  or  herd  of 
animals.  In  each  case  there  is  some  mech- 
anism for  securing  unanimity — the  thing 
that  makes  all  the  sheep  follow  the  leader 
over  the  wall.  In  the  animal  it  is  instinctive, 
predetermined  in  the  nervous  system.  In 
the  simple  community  there  is,  plus  the 
gregarious  instinct,  a  process  of  defining 
the  situation  by  discussion  (and  the  latter 
element  is  of  course  the  basis  of  the  demo- 
cratic organization  of  society).  Our  dis- 
cussion of  the  primary  group  organization 
(Chapter  II)  and  of  the  types  of  demorali- 
zation in  America — some  of  the  latter  even 
reaching  insanitj''  (see  document  56,  p.  72) — 
show  that  the  immigrant  does  not  know 
how  to  live  except  as  member  of  a  group. 

The  situation  of  the  new  immigrant  would 
be  singularly  helpless  here  if  he  did  not  find 
some  points  of  identity  with  his  previous 

119 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

life,  and  these  he  does  in  fact  find  among 
those  of  his  own  group  or  nationality  who 
have  preceded  him.  He  almost  always 
comes  to  friends;  frequently  they  have  sent 
him  his  ship  ticket,  and  he  boards  with  them 
until  he  has  found  employment  and  "worked 
back"  the  ship  ticket.  And  the  different 
immigrant  groups  have  formed  spontane- 
ously in  America,  organizations  that  repro- 
duce to  some  extent  the  home  society  or 
replace  it  with  forms  more  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  the  immigrant  here.  These  organ- 
izations are  not,  in  fact,  pure  heritages,  but 
the  products  of  the  immigrants'  efforts  to 
adapt  their  heritages  to  American  conditions. 
The  immigrant,  therefore,  comes  to  a  society 
of  his  own  people,  and  this  society,  not 
native  American  society,  is  the  matrix  which 
gives  him  his  first  impression.  The  char- 
acter of  this  society,  as  we  shall  see  in  more 
detail  later,  is  the  primary  influence  in 
determining  the  desire  and  capacity  of  the 
immigrant  to  participate  in  American  life. 
The  immigrant  institutions  are  not  to  be 
commended  indiscriminately  as  means  of 
Americanization.  They  are  primarily  de- 
vices to  make  life  go  on  with  some  success 
and  eflSciency,  and  when  they  are  more 
than  this  they  often  represent  the  determi- 
nation to  be  loyal  to  the  old  country  rather 

120 


IMMIGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 


than  to  America,  but  they  are  none  the  less 
the  point  of  first  importance  in  any  study 
of  the  individual's  transition  from  one  cul- 
tural world  to  another. 

FIEST-AID  INSTITUTIONS 

There  are,  first  of  all,  certain  organizations 
developed  simply  as  business  enterprise, 
mainly  by  more  instructed  and  sophisticated 
members  of  the  various  immigrant  groups, 
to  meet  the  practical  needs  of  their  country- 
men. Among  these  are  boarding  houses, 
banks,  steamship  agencies,  labor  and  real- 
estate  agencies,  the  padrone  system,  etc. 
The  character  of  these  organizations  and 
the  abuses  connected  with  them  have  often 
been  described,^  and  we  have  given  examples 
of  the  abuses  in  documents  47  (p.  56)  and 
59  (p.  77).  The  more  important  point, 
however,  is  not  the  abuses,  but  the  fact  that 
the  immigrant  must  have  this  aid.  These 
organizations  are  a  practical  solution  which 
he  must  accept;  they  are  the  only  organi- 
zation of  forces  within  his  reach.  The 
great  American  banks  and  steamship  agencies 
are  not  adapted  to  his  needs.  The  Jewish 
woman  in  New  York  buys  a  steamship  ticket 

'  Grace  Abbott,  The  Immigrant  and  the  Community,  and 
Reports  cf  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  xxxvii. 

121 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


for  her  sister  in  Russia  from  a  ticket  peddler, 
who  collects  fifty  cents  a  week;  the  Polish 
laborer  deposits  his  money  with  the  saloon 
keeper;  and  this  peddler  or  saloon  keeper 
will  eventually  become  a  joint  steamship 
agent,  banker,  employment  agent,  real-estate 
agent,  etc.,  and  may  perhaps  start  a  news- 
paper, or  form  a  coalition  with  one,  to  pro- 
mote his  schemes. 

86.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  its  very  equipment 
prevents  the  American  bank  from  entering  into  a 
fair  competition  with  the  immigrant  banker.  A 
Slovak  immigrant  banker,  in  apologizing  somewhat 
for  the  appearance  of  his  banking  room,  stated  that 
it  was  necessarily  ill  kept  because  the  men  would 
come  in  in  their  working  clothes,  often  covered  with 
mud,  frequently  intoxicated,  which,  together  with 
smoking  and  spitting,  kept  the  room  in  a  constant 
state  of  disorder.  Such  a  condition  would  not  be 
tolerated  by  an  American  bank.  Moreover,  the 
average  immigrant  feels  a  certain  hesitancy  in 
entering  in  his  working  clothes  a  building  of  the 
character  of  some  city  banks.  This  informant,  who 
had  been  a  banker  for  nearly  twenty  years,  stated 
that  he  had  often  been  urged  to  move  into  more 
pretentious  quarters,  but  had  refrained  because  he 
knew  he  could  not  keep  them  clean  except  at  the 
cost  of  prestige  and  business. 

These  conditions,  together  with  the  inconvenient 
hours  maintained  by  local  banks,  prevent  any  wide- 
spread patronage  of  them  on  the  part  of  the 
immigrant  * 


^  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  xzzvii,  p.  216. 
122 


IMMIGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 


87.  The  proprietor's  ability  to  perform  the 
services  required  comes  primarily  from  his  intimate 
knowledge  of  foreign  conditions,  places,  languages, 
and  names.  His  banking  hours  are  made  convenient, 
and  in  the  ignorance  and  dependence  of  the  immigrant 
he  is  looked  upon  as  the  safest  depository  and  quickest 
means  of  transmission.  Moreover,  his  position  is 
greatly  enhanced  by  racial  and  sectional  prejudices, 
which  are  not  infrequently  encouraged  and  fostered 
by  the  banker  to  that  very  end.  His  business  is 
usually  confined  to  his  countrymen  or  members  of 
allied  races.  The  Sicilian  Italians,  for  example,  are 
divided  into  five  or  six  groups  based  upon  provincial 
boundary  lines,  and  a  system  of  mutual  patronage 
has  sprung  up  among  the  members  of  each  group.^ 

88.  Those  proprietors,  who  confine  their  operations 
to  bank  and  steamship  agencies,  as  distinguished 
from  those  who  conduct  such  in  connection  with 
some  other  business,  are  usually  the  most  intelligent 
men  of  the  immigration  population  of  any  colony  or 
locality.  They  are  always  possessed  of  considerable 
influence,  and  may  be  political  leaders  in  the  older 
and  more  established  immigrant  communities.  .  .  . 

Hundreds  of  saloon  keepers  and  grocers  act  as 
bankers  without  the  least  fitness  or  equipment. 
It  is  true  that  they  become  bankers  only  as  individuals 
through  the  fortunate  chance  of  their  position  as 
merchants.  .  .  ? 

89.  The  most  serious  charge  that  is  brought 
against  such  a  coalition  of  bankers  and  newspapers 
is  that  by  constant  appeal  to  the  prejudice  and 
patriotism  of  the  immigrant  his  Americanization  is 
not  only  retarded,  but  deliberately  combated,  in 

*  Reports  of  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  xxxvii,  p.  218. 
« Ibid..  213. 

18S 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


order  that  he  may  be  held  as  a  source  of  income  to 
those  whom  he  trusts.  An  instance  in  point  is  the 
case  of  a  certain  Slovak  banker,  an  ex-student  of 
theology,  who  operates  a  large,  handsomely  furnished 
establishment,  with  two  branch  houses.  This  banker 
is  a  national  and  religious  leader  among  his  people, 
having  organized  and  headed  a  national  Slovak  society 
in  this  country.  He  issues  a  daily,  a  weekly,  a 
humanistic  monthly,  a  yearly  almanac,  and  from 
time  to  time  other  publications.  Although  he  has 
renounced  allegiance  to  Hungary,  severed  all  political 
ties  with  that  coimtry,  and  become  an  American 
citizen,  he  does  not  advise  his  Slovak  countrymen 
to  do  the  same,  but  instead  preaches  in  all  his  pubh- 
cations  a  militant  and  enthusiastic  "Pan-Slovakism." 
So  long  as  the  Slovaks  remain  Slovaks  and  can  be 
filled  with  Slovak  patriotism  and  enthusiasm  by 
such  agitation,  just  so  long  will  they  remain  a  source 
of  profit  to  the  banker.  Prior  to  the  recent  industrial 
depression  this  man  was  accustomed  to  transmit 
abroad,  on  behalf  of  his  patrons,  from  $2,000,000  to 
$2,500,000  annually  and  to  sell  6,000  steamship 
tickets  per  year.^ 

MUTUAL  AID  AND  BENEFIT  SOCIETIES 

There  is  evidence  ^  showing  that  back  of  the 
familial  and  communal  solidarity  of  the 
European  peasant  is  the  fear  of  death  and 
of  its  attendants  and  preliminaries — hunger, 
cold,  dirkness,  sickness,  solitude,  and  "mis- 

'  Reports  of  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  xxxvii,  p.  229. 
*  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant,  Introduction  to 
vol.  i. 

124 


IMMIGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 


ery."  The  peasant  is  strangely  indifferent 
to  death,  but  he  fears  any  irregular  features — 
suddenness,  inappropriateness.  He  wants 
to  die  decently,  ceremonially,  and  socially. 
Since  a  man's  death  is  usually  the  most 
conspicuous  incident  in  his  life,  attracting 
the  universal  attention  and  interest  of  the 
group,  since  it  is  the  occasion  of  judgments 
and  speculations  on  the  status  of  the  family — 
whether  they  are  thereby  impoverished, 
whether  they  are  rich — death  and  burial  are 
not  only  the  occasion  of  the  natural  idealiza- 
tion of  the  dead,  but  a  means  of  securing 
recognition.  Immigrant  families  are  noto- 
rious for  lavish  expenditure  on  funerals. 

90.  .  .  .  Now  I  inform  you,  dearest  parents,  and 
you,  my  brothers,  that  Konstanty,  your  son,  dearest 
parents,  and  your  brother  and  mine,  my  brothers, 
is  no  longer  aUve.  It  killed  him  in  the  foundry,  it 
tore  him  in  eight  parts,  it  tore  his  head  away  and 
crushed  his  chest  to  a  mass  and  broke  his  arms.  But 
I  beg  you,  dear  parents,  don't  weep  and  don't  grieve, 
God  willed  it  so  and  did  it  so.  It  killed  him  on 
April  20th,  in  the  morning,  and  he  was  buried  on 
April  22d.  He  was  buried  beautifully.  His  funeral 
cost  $225,  the  casket  $60.  Now  when  we  win  some 
[money]  by  law  from  the  Company  we  will  buy  a 
place  and  transfer  him,  that  he  may  lie  quietly.  We 
will  surround  him  with  a  fence  and  put  a  cross, 
stone,  or  iron  upon  his  grave.  For  his  work  let  him 
at  least  lie  quietly  in  his  own  place.' 

'  Thomas  and  Zuaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant,  vol.  ii,  p.  263. 
125 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


Out  of  this  sentiment  grows  the  mutual- 
aid  society,  with  death,  burial,  and  sickness 
benefits.  The  business  institutions  are 
formed  for  the  immigrant,  but  the  mutual- 
aid  society  is  organized  by  the  immigrants. 
It  is  the  basic  institution,  out  of  which  grow 
the  numerous  lodges,  orders,  and  fraternal 
organizations.^ 

'  The  Jew  was  an  immigrant  in  Europe  before  coming  to  America, 
and  consequently  brings  the  tendency  to  mutual-aid  organization 
developed  there: 

"Very  little  is  known  outside  of  the  pale  of  a  peculiarly  Jewish 
organization  among  the  artisans  and  their  employees  .  .  .  the  so- 
called  khevra,  a  word  of  Hebrew  origin,  meaning  a  company,  an 
association.  To  a  certain  extent  the  khevra  as  it  exists  to-day  is 
analogous  to  the  artisans'  guilds  and  journeymen's  guilds  of  the 
middle  ages  in  western  Europe.  Its  origin,  however,  must  be 
sought  in  the  rites  of  the  Jewish  religion.  Various  Hebrew  religious 
functions  must  be  observed  in  common.  In  fact,  the  prayers  on 
certain  occasions  must  be  held  in  the  presence  of  at  least  ten 
adults  of  the  Jewish  faith.  Again,  the  main  accessory  of  the 
Hebrew  devotional  exercises— the  torah  (the  Old  Testament, 
written  in  Hebrew  on  a  long  roll  of  parchment) — is  too  expensive 
to  be  in  the  possession  of  any  but  the  richest  citizens  of  the  com- 
munity. Thus,  organizations  for  the  express  purpose  of  praying 
and  of  o^^■ning  a  torah  sprang  up;  and  it  was  easy  for  these  organi- 
zations to  develop  along  trade  lines,  because  of  the  natural  leaning 
of  people  of  the  same  occupations  toward  one  another.  Gradually 
charitable  functions  were  added  to  the  religious  ones;  but  in  the 
beginning  even  the  charitable  acts  had  a  religious  basis,  such  as 
the  execution  of  the  various  ceremonies  connected  with  the  burying 
of  the  dead  members  of  the  khevra.  The  members  of  the  khevra 
must  not  only  accompany  the  body  of  the  dead  to  its  last  resting 
place,  but  must  also  assemble  daily  during  the  entire  month  to 
say  the  customary  prayers.  More  important  from  the  social- 
economic  point  of  view  is  the  obligation  to  stay,  in  regular  turn, 
with  the  sick  brother  throughout  the  night  if  necessary. 

"The  transition  from  this  service  to  a  sick-benefit  fund  is 
natural.    To  make  such  financial  assistance  possible,  a  small 

126 


IMMIGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 


In  addition,  the  more  prosperous  and 
responsible  members  of  the  immigrant  groups 
who  have  the  burden  of  providing  for  the 
sick  and  burying  the  dead  of  the  penniless 
(for  however  loose  the  community  ties,  these 
are  occasions  on  which  neighborly  aid  can- 
not be  denied)  have  evidently  had  an  interest 
in  forming  these  provident  organizations  as 
a  matter  of  self -protection.  The  obligation 
is  not  repudiated,  but  regulated. 

91.  Father  belonged  to  a  society  in  which  he 
was  an  active  member.  The  men  often  came  to  our 
house  to  talk  things  over  with  him  and  he  felt  im- 
portant and  often  offered  our  front  room  for  com- 
mittee meetings.  Before  they  opened  the  meeting 
they  always  assured  mother  that  they  would  not 
keep  us  up  any  later  than  ten  o'clock.    But  when  the 

entrance  fee  and  still  smaller  dues  are  provided,  the  first  being 
often  as  small  as  one  ruble  and  the  latter  only  four  or  five  kopeck 
or  less  per  week.  If  this  moderate  income  still  leaves  a  surplus  it 
may  be  used  in  granting  the  members  small  loans  without  any  in- 
terest. This  tendency  toward  mutual  assistance  leads  to  a 
strong  bond  among  the  members  of  the  khevra  and  teaches  them 
the  advantages  of  co-operative  activity  along  broader  lines.  .  .  . 

"These  social  tendencies  manifest  themselves  eloquently  among 
the  mass  of  the  Jewish  workingmen  even  in  this  country.  The 
large  number  of  Jewish  khevras,  lodges,  clubs,  fraternities,  brother- 
hoods, and  other  organizations — ^frequently  under  American 
names  and  with  the  introduction  of  various  rites — that  are  pursuing 
religious  and  partly  charitable  purposes,  and  often  possessing 
national  organizations,  are  in  reality  only  an  outgrowth  of  the 
primitive  khevra.  It  was  this  habit  of  organization  that  the  labor- 
union  propaganda  found  such  fertile  soil  among  the  mass  of  the 
Jewish  workingmen  in  New  York  City." — I.  M.  Rubinow, 
"Economic  Condition  of  the  Jews  in  Russia,"  U.  S.  Bureau  of 
Labor,  Bulletin  72,  p.  530. 

127 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


time  came  they  were  so  deep  in  discussion  that  they 
never  even  heard  the  clock  strike  the  hour.  I  used  to 
sit  down  in  the  doorway  of  the  kitchen  and  front  room 
from  where  I  could  see  all  their  faces  and  Usten  to  their 
heated  arguments.  Always  it  was  a  piece  of  burial 
ground  that  was  the  subject  of  discussion,  and  when 
a  member,  or  anyone  belonging  to  his  family,  died, 
whether  the  rest  of  the  members  should  contribute  an 
extra  dollar  to  cover  burial  expenses,  and  whether  as 
a  society  they  should  or  should  not  employ  a  doctor 
and  pay  him  out  of  the  society  fund.  At  twelve 
o'clock  or  even  later  they  would  at  last  break  up 
with  the  question  of  the  burial  ground  and  the  extra 
dollar  and  the  doctor  still  unsettled".  .  . 

92.  The  Slovenians  have  many  fraternal  organi- 
zations. The  most  important  are:  the  Carniolian 
Slovenian  Catholic  Union,  organized  in  Joliet, 
lUinois,  April  2,  1894.  It  has  17,000  members, 
capital  to  the  amount  of  $650,000,  and  has  paid 
out  $1,376,135.32  in  benefits.  The  Slovenian  Na- 
tional Benefit  Society  was  organized  in  1904,  and 
has  its  headquarters  at  Chicago.  Its  capital  is 
$525,000;  it  has  over  18,000  members  and  has  paid 
out  in  benefits  $1,029,081.  It  has  341  branches, 
distributed  in  27  states,  and  one  in  Canada.  The 
Slovenian  Workingmen's  Benefit  Association  was 
foimded  August  16,  1908,  in  Johnstown,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Its  assets  on  June  30,  1918,  were  $158,096.93, 
of  which  $45,000  was  invested  in  Liberty  Bonds.  It 
has  146  branches,  which  include  7,299  adult  members 
and  4,500  junior  members.  It  has  paid  out  in  bene- 
fits $1,000,000.  In  Cleveland  there  are  5  branches 
with  a  total  of  605  members.^ 

»  Rose  Cohen,  Out  of  the  Shadow,  p.  196. 
*  E.  E.  Ledbetter,  Study  of  the  Jugo-Slavs  (manuscript). 
128 


I]\IMIGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 


93.  The  ItaKans  of  Chicago  have  110  mutual- 
aid  societies,  representing  a  population  of  about 
150,000.  As  the  names  suggest,  the  membership  is 
generally  from  the  same  Italian  province  and  fre- 
quently from  the  same  village.  .  .  .  The  most  popu- 
lar .  .  .  the  Unione  Siciliana,  has  28  lodges.  Sick 
benefits  in  this  order  range  from  $8  to  $12  per  week, 
and  a  death  benefit  of  $1,000  is  paid.  The  monthly 
fees  of  these  societies  run  from  30  to  60  cents.  There 
is  also,  in  all  societies,  a  death  assessment,  making 
the  average  cost  of  membership  from  $12  to  $15  per 
year.  .  .  .  Funeral  expenses  ranging  from  $50  to  $90 
are  paid,  and  every  member  makes  a  contribution  of 
$2  to  the  family  of  the  dead  member.  Dtu-ing  the 
sickness  of  a  member  all  other  members  are  obliged 
to  visit  and  assist  him  if  he  lacks  a  family.  .  .  . 
All  members  are  obliged  to  attend  the  funeral,  under 
penalty  for  absence.  A  band  of  musicians  is  always 
provided.^ 

94.  ...  The  Jewish  [fraternal]  orders  constitute 
a  valuable  and  important  factor  in  our  communal 
Ufe.  The  interests  of  about  a  million  Jews  are  in- 
volved in  their  existence  and  welfare.  .  .  .  An 
important  phase  is  that  the  recipient  of  benefits 
from  the  lodge  or  order  does  not  lose  his  self-respect, 
nor  his  standing  in  the  organization,  as  is  often  the 
case  of  recipients  of  public  charity.  .  .  . 

The  lodges  of  the  various  orders  have  been  and 
stiU  are  the  most  valuable  schools  through  which 
our  immigrated  Jews  pass.  Many  have  learned  their 
Enghsh  at  their  lodge  meetings.  Others  have  ac- 
quired there  their  knowledge  of  parliamentary 
procedm-e  and  decorum  at  public  meetings.  Many 

>  F.  O.  Beck  "The  Italian  in  Chicago,"  in  Bulletin  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Welfare,  Chicago,  p.  23. 

129 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


of  our  best-known  public  men  and  speakers  have 
begun  their  careers  modestly,  in  filling  an  office 
in  their  lodge  or  joining  the  debates  at  the  meetings. 
In  fact  most  of  our  people  gain  their  connection 
with  and  knowledge  of  American  Jewish  activities, 
and  take  an  interest  in  the  same,  through  their 
affiliation  with  the  Jewish  fraternal  orders.  .  .  . 
For  organizing,  molding  and  interesting  large  masses 
of  Jews  in  the  large  Jewish  problems,  they  have  been 
found  the  best  means.^ 

95.  The  prefectural  societies  [composed  of  those 
from  the  same  province  in  Japan]  are  very  numerous. 
Of  344  men  from  whom  personal  data  were  obtained  99 
had  membership  in  these  organizations,  the  societies  of 
27  different  prefectures  being  represented  among  them. 
The  societies  indicate  the  strength  of  the  locaUties 
among  the  Japanese.  They  serve  as  centers  of  social 
life  and  give  assistance  to  those  who  are  in  need. 

The  Japanese  Benevolent  Society  was  organized 
in  1901.  Its  object  was  to  make  more  complete 
provisions  for  the  care  of  the  sick,  injured,  and 
unfortunate  than  had  been  made  by  the  several 
missions,  the  Japanese  Association,  the  prefectural 
societies,  and  trade  associations.  .  .  .  This  does  not 
indicate  the  importance  of  its  work,  however.  .  .  . 
One  of  the  more  important  branches  of  its  work 
lies  in  securing  reduced  rates  from  the  steamship 
companies  for  those  who  are  sick  or  in  need,  in  order 
that  they  may  return  to  Japan.  As  a  result  of  the 
eflForts  of  this  society  and  of  the  other  institutions  to 
which  reference  has  been  made,  no  Japanese  become 
public  charges  in  San  Francisco.^ 

*  Leo  Wolfson,  Jetnsh  Communal  Register  of  New  York  CHy 
(1917-18),  p.  859. 

*  ReporU  of  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  xxiii,  p.  220. 

130 


IMlyllGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 


06.  The  six  [Chinese]  companies  .  .  .  are  com- 
mercial guilds.  The  people  from  different  sections 
belong  to  their  several  companies,  analogous  to  the 
Hibernian,  Saint  Andrew's,  Slavonian,  Italian,  Ger- 
man, or  New  England  societies.  These  societies 
have  their  by-laws,  their  presidents,  secretaries, 
treasurers,  interpreters,  etc.  These  oflScers  are 
chosen  by  ballot  every  year  and  receive  their  salaries. 
They  are  for  mutual  aid.  For  certain  benefits  which 
are  extended  to  the  members  they  are  willing  to  pay 
the  dues  and  taxes  imposed.  The  officers  of  these 
companies,  together  with  prominent  men  among  the 
merchants  and  others  connected  with  the  companies, 
are  called  together  to  deUberate  and  advise  on 
occasions  of  important  events,  such  as  a  murder, 
a  riot  in  the  mines  or  anywhere,  a  quarrel  between 
members  of  different  companies,  the  failure  of  some 
Chinese  firm,  or  threatened  persecutions,  or  any 
impending  danger,  or  to  make  arrangements  to 
receive  and  do  honor  to  any  dignitary.  These 
meetings  are  simply  advisory.  They  act  often  as 
arbitrators  in  difficulties,  so  as  to  prevent  their 
people,  if  possible,  from  going  to  law;  or  when  their 
countrymen  have  been  robbed  or  murdered  in  the 
mines  they  take  steps  to  procure  through  the  govern- 
ment officers  the  apprehension  and  prosecution  of 
the  offenders. 

Some  of  the  companies  in  early  Californian  times 
built  and  supported  hospitals  for  their  countrymen. 
An  old  building  down  on  what  was  called  Washer- 
woman's Bay  was  built  and  supported  by  the  Chinese 
for  a  hospital  in  early  times.  These  companies  do 
not  import  coolies;  they  are  not  immigrant  as- 
sociations; they  are  not  civil  or  criminal  courts  to 
try  and  execute  offenders;    nor  are  they  secret 

131 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


combinations  for  the  purpose  of  subverting  or  interfer- 
ing with  the  course  of  justice  in  the  countries  to 
which  their  people  go  to  sojourn.  .  .  . 

One  advantage  in  remaining  connected  with  the 
six  companies,  which  has  weight  with  most  of  the 
Chinese  here,  is  that  their  bones,  wherever  buried, 
will  be  gathered  up  and  returned  to  China,  and  a 
portion  of  the  dues  to  each  company  is  for  this 
pmpose.  .  .  .  Another  of  the  benefits  of  these  com- 
panies (in  the  minds  of  Chinamen  who  are  in  busi- 
ness) is  that  they  help  in  the  collection  of  debts, 
or  rather  oppose  barriers  to  the  absconding  of  debtors. 
These  companies  have  an  arrangement  with  the 
different  shipping  houses  by  which  no  Chinamen 
can  get  his  ticket  for  his  passage  vmless  he  brings  a 
stamped  permit  from  his  company.  If  a  Chinaman 
is  known  to  be  insolvent,  or  if  there  are  suspicions 
that  he  desires  to  defraud  his  creditors,  or  if  a  telegram 
comes  from  any  part  of  the  country  saying,  "Stop 
such  a  man,"  he  will  be  hindered  from  going  until 
the  case  has  been  investigated  and  satisfactory 
arrangements  have  been  made.^ 

NATIONALISTIC  ORGANIZATIONS 

All  the  immigrant  groups  have  societies  of 
the  character  just  shown,  and  the  more 
formal,  nation-wide  societies  are  usually 
made  up  of  these.  Nationalistic  organiza- 
tions are  readily  formed  by  combining  these 
local  units  into  a  city-wide  and,  eventually, 
a  country-wide  organization.    Thus  the  Sons 

>  U.  S.  Industrial  Commurion,  Rejnrt  for  1901,  vol.  rv,  p.  446, 
(testimoDy  of  A.  W.  Loomis). 

132 


IMMIGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 


of  Italy,  the  most  powerful  Italian  organiza- 
tion in  the  United  States,  which  has  a  mem- 
bership of  125,000,  and  887  lodges  in  24 
states,  is  a  congeries  of  benefit  and  insurance 
societies,  but  its  object  is  also: 

97.  To  unite  fraternally  all  white  males  and 
females  of  Italian  descent  residing  in  the  several 
states  of  the  United  States  of  America  ...  in  one 
family,  without  regard  to  religious,  philosophic,  or 
political  faith  or  belief.  .  .  . 

To  assist  with  all  its  vigor  and  strength  the  indi- 
vidual members  at  all  times  and  to  aid  any  of  their 
relatives  in  the  event  of  difficulty  in  obtaining  entry 
into  the  United  States  as  immigrants,  or  in  case  of 
other  distress  or  difficulty. 

To  aid  in  maintaining  alive  the  patriotic  spirit 
and  love  for  the  fatherland,  by  the  observance  of 
such  holidays  as  Columbus  Day,  by  providing  means 
for  the  diffusion  of  the  Italian  language,  and  by 
adopting  the  same  as  the  official  language  at  all 
meetings  of  this  order.  ^ 

Similarly,  the  Polish  National  Alliance  is 
an  insurance  company  and  at  the  same  time 
the  largest  Polish  nationalistic  organization, 
with  about  1,700  branches  and  a  member- 
ship of  about  130,000.  (See  Map  1,  on 
p.  134).  It  was  founded  in  Philadelphia, 
in  1880,  as  a  direct  response  to  the  following 
letter,  and  up  to  the  present  has  worked  in 
the  spirit  of  this  letter: 

1  From  the  "Certificate  of  Incorporation"  of  the  Sons  of  Italy 
(1905). 

10  133 


IMMIGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 


98.  Since  emigration  exists  and  constitutes  a 
great  power — a  fact  which  cannot  be  denied — it 
should  be  the  task  of  a  well-understood  patriotism 
to  make  it  as  useful  as  possible  for  the  national 
cause.  This  can  be  done  only  through  organization, 
which  will  unify  the  scattered  members  and  control 
them  in  such  a  way  that  they  will  not  be  wasted 
but  will  be  preserved  for  the  fatherland.  .  .  . 

Every  PoHsh  peasant,  from  whatever  Polish 
province  he  comes,  even  from  one  of  those  which, 
like  upper  Silesia  or  East  Prussia,  have  been  for  a 
long  time  separated  from  the  national  body,  when 
transferred  to  a  strange  soil  among  foreigners  de- 
velops a  Polish  sentiment  and  a  consciousness  of  his 
national  character.  This  phenomenon  is  incompre- 
hensible for  those  who  saw  the  peasant  at  home 
without  a  consciousness  of  national  duties.  And 
yet  it  is  quite  natural.  National  consciousness 
originates  in  him  spontaneously  in  a  foreign  coim- 
try  in  consequence  of  the  feeling  of  the  striking 
difference  between  his  speech,  his  customs,  his 
conceptions,  from  those  of  the  people  who  surround 
him.  .  .  . 

If,  after  the  formation  of  a  conception  and  senti- 
ment of  nationahty  in  him,  there  is  some  one  capable 
of  explaining  to  him  the  meaning  of  this  national 
character  and  of  making  him  understand  the  duties 
resulting  from  this  character,  then  this  plain  man, 
formerly  ignorant  and  passive  for  the  national  cause, 
will  become  an  individual  consciously  and  actively 
serving  the  idea  which  rests  upon  nationahty.  .  .  . 
There  is,  therefore,  no  doubt  that  if  a  national 
intellectual  class  is  formed  in  America  the  numerous 
masses  can  and  must  be  changed  into  an  active 

135 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


human  group  useful  for  the  national  cause;  and  in 
order  to  give  them  the  possibility  of  becoming  useful 
and  at  the  same  time  surround  them  with  conditions 
which  will  prevent  them  from  losing  their  nationahty, 
it  is  indispensable  to  unite  the  isolated  individuals 
into  more  or  less  numerous  associations  and  com- 
munities and  bind  these  together  in  such  a  way 
that  the  resulting  organization,  while  serving  the 
purposes  of  the  Polish  cause,  will  be  not  only  useful, 
but  indispensable  for  the  private  interests  of  every 
one  of  its  members.  .  .  . 

When  the  mass  of  Poles  in  America  is  morally 
and  nationally  raised  by  the  fact  of  being  unified 
and  is  economically  prosperous — which  should  be 
also  one  of  the  tasks  of  the  organization — it  will 
render  great  services  to  Poland,  even  by  the  mere 
fact  of  representing  the  Polish  name  well  in  America. 
These  services  can  gradually  become  very  consider- 
able, when  the  Poles  begin  to  exercise  an  influence 
upon  the  public  life  of  the  United  States,  when  they 
spread  among  Americans  adequate  conceptions  about 
the  Polish  cause  and  information  about  the  history, 
literature,  and  art  of  our  nation,  when  finally  they 
become  intermediaries  between  Poland  and  the 
powerful  Republic  so  as  to  foster  sympathy  with 
our  efforts  for  liberation  and  develop  it  into  an 
enthusiasm  which  will  express  itself  in  action. 

Then  only  can  happen  that  which  is  most  de- 
sirable— i.e.,  the  emigrants  who  have  acquired 
training  in  practical  lines  and  wealth  in  America 
will  begin  to  return  to  their  fatherland  to  be  useful 
citizens.  .  .  .  We  do  not  need  to  put  forward  those 
benefits  which  a  large  organization  of  Poles  in  America 
could  bring  at  the  decisive  moment  when  the  futvure 

136 


IMMIGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 


of  our  fatherland  will  be  at  stake,  for  this  is  easy 
to  see. ' 

Another  Polish  nationalistic  organization 
composed  more  exclusively  of  intellectuals, 
is  the  Alliance  of  Polish  Socialists.  Like 
the  Polish  National  Alliance,  it  has  worked, 
up  to  the  present,  mainly  to  establish  a 
Polish  nation  in  America  as  a  substitute 
and  center  of  influence  for  a  Polish  state  in 
Europe.  The  Polish  socialists,  however,  have 
had  more  definitely  the  program  of  preparing 
in  America  leaders  for  Poland  when  her 
"day"  should  come.  This  principle  was 
formulated,  for  instance,  in  a  letter  of  Kozak- 
iewicz,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Alliance, 
which  was  read  and  indorsed  at  the  general 
meeting  of  delegates  in  1917: 

99.  "In  view  of  our  weak  direct  participation  in 
the  political  life  of  this  country  ...  we  should 
direct  all  our  work  to  the  aim  of  training  active, 
independently  thinking  sociahsts,  educated  men,  and 
conscious  citizens,  ready  to  sacrifice  themselves  for 
our  idea.  .  .  .  Let  us  form  men  everyone  of  whom 
will  be  able  in  any  locality,  without  help,  spontane- 
ously to  create  and — more  than  this — to  lead  an 
organization."    The  ultimate  aim  has  been  up  to 

'  Extract  from  a  letter  from  Agaton  Giller,  former  member  of 
the  Polish  national  government  of  1863,  written  in  1879  from 
Rapperwil,  Switzerland,  to  the  Gazeta  Polska  of  Chicago.  Re- 
printed in  Stanislaw  Osada,  History  of  the  Polish  National  Alliance 
(in  Polish),  p.  102. 

137 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


the  present,  as  we  have  seen  above,  realization  of 
the  socialistic  ideal  in  Poland  rather  than  in  America. 
When  the  time  comes  for  our  companions  to  return 
to  Poland,  may  we  be  able  to  say  with  pride,  "These 
are  men  from  the  American  school,  trained  by  the 
Polish  organizations."  ^ 

While  among  some  of  the  immigrant 
groups  (the  Poles,  for  example)  interest  in 
the  nationalistic  movement  has  tended  to 
dominate  all  other  interests,  the  Zionism 
of  the  Jews  is  merely  one  expression  of  the 
general  organization  and  growing  self-con- 
sciousness of  this  group: 

100.  The  nationalist  Jew  ...  is  the  product  of 
two  historic  movements.  The  Hashallah  (enUghten- 
ment)  movement  in  Russia  during  the  middle  of  the 
last  century  caused  many  Jewish  students  to  forsake 
the  Talmudical  halls  of  learning  and  ...  to  devote 
their  energies  to  the  creation  of  a  new  hteratiu-e  in 
Hebrew,  expressive  of  the  facts  of  modern  hfe  and  of 
the  new  orientation  of  the  Jews  in  the  modem  world. 
The  ideal  of  this  movement,  the  Haskil  (the  en- 
lightened), is  one  who  is  acquainted  with  science, 
literature,  and  art,  and  who  knows  thoroughly  the 
literature  of  his  people,  both  ancient  and  modern, 
even  to  the  extent  of  being  able  to  contribute  to 
it.  With  the  Haskallah  movement  another  force 
combined  in  creating  the  nationalist  Jew.  This  force 
was  Zionism.  Modern  Zionism  originated  in  Russia 
as  a  "Love  of  Palestine"  movement,  and  spread 

'  Florian  Znaniecki,  Study  of  Polish  Organizationa  in  America 
(manuscript). 

138 


BOflGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 


throughout  the  world  under  the  leadership  of  Dr. 
Theodore  Herzl.  ...  It  is  simply  a  modern  formu- 
lation of  the  age-long  yearning  of  the  Jew  for  Zion. 
It  looks  to  the  establishment  of  a  "pubhcity  secured, 
legally  assiu-ed  homeland  for  the  Jews  in  Palestine," 
and  to  the  "fostering  of  Jewish  consciousness  through- 
out the  world."  ^ 

Similar  motives — the  desire  to  serve  the 
mother  comitry  in  and  from  America — 
have  inspired  the  representatives  of  other 
"oppressed  and  dependent"  European  and 
Asiatic  nationalities  (see  documents  71,  72, 
73,  p.  98).  The  Chinese  nationalistic  activ- 
ities, for  example,  are  carried  on  largely  by 
university  students  and  commercial  clubs, 
and  have  the  sympathy  and  participation 
of  American  friends  of  China. 

The  Japanese  Association  of  America  is 
nationaUstic  only  in  the  sense  that  it  regu- 
lates the  life  of  the  Japanese  in  America  and 
promotes  their  efficiency.  It  is  really  a 
bureau  of  information  both  for  the  home 
government  and  for  the  Japanese  in  America. 
It  advises  the  Japanese  government  as  to 
the  policy  to  be  pursued,  how  many  and 
what  kind  of  Japanese  shall  be  permitted  to 
come,  whether  the  practice  of  sending  "pic- 
ture brides"  leads  to  disorder,  and  so  forth. 
(See  document  109,  p.  169.) 

'  Alexander  M.  Duskin,  Jevdsk  Education  in  New  York  City,  p. 
36. 

139 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


There  is  in  America  a  body  of  about 
1,100,000  French  Canadians,  settled  mainly 
in  the  New  England  states,  who  are  carrying 
on  a  struggle  for  the  perpetuation  of  their 
culture  along  the  same  lines  as  the  French 
in  Canada.  As  a  consequence  our  New 
England  mill  towns  have  the  French  lan- 
guage, French  parishes  and  parochial  schools, 
French  nationalistic  societies  {St.  Jean  de 
Baptiste  d'Amerique,  Canado- American),  and 
a  French  nationalist  press.  (See  Map  2, 
on  p.  141.) 

101.  The  French  Canadians  of  Quebec  have 
increased  in  population  from  60,000  in  1763  to 
3,000,000  scattered  through  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  Wherever  in  New  England  these  have 
settled  in  numbers,  that  community  is  gradually- 
ceasing  to  be  English.  Lewiston,  Maine,  is  an 
example  which  has  not  only  ceased  to  be  a  "  Yankee  " 
city  and  is  losing  its  American  characteristics,  but  is 
gradually  assuming  a  French  aspect.  The  parish 
with  its  organizations  has  successfully  prevented  its 
parishioners  from  coming  under  native  influences  and 
is  driving  the  English  language  from  the  business  sec- 
tions. .  .  .  The  French  Canadian  population  of  Bidde- 
ford  is  nearly  70  per  cent.  .  .  .  This  population  is 
fairly  well  distributed  over  the  whole  city.  A  Yankee 
section  exists  rather  than  a  French  section.  .  .  . 
Three  thousand  young  French  Americans  are  annually 
sent  to  the  colleges  of  French  Canadian  nationahsm 
in  the  province  of  Quebec.  .  .  .  Probably  the  most 
important  and  most  popular  newspaper  among  the 
New  England  Franco-Americans  is  La  Presse,  of 

140 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


Montreal.  .  .  .  An  examination  of  Who's  Who  in 
America  fails  to  reveal  the  name  of  any  one  of  the 
110,000  Frenchmen  of  the  state  of  Maine.  ^ 

Nevertheless,  the  French  Americans  rec- 
ognize that  this  is  a  transitory  situation. 
Some  of  their  organizations — e.g.,  St.  Jean 
de  Baptiste — have  been  obliged  to  aUow 
proceedings  to  be  conducted  in  English  to 
prevent  young  people  from  joining  American 
societies.    (See  document  163,  p.  290.) 

A  number  of  elements  enter  into  the 
nationalistic  sentiments  of  the  immigrant: 
(1)  the  idealization  of  home  conditions, 
natural  in  one  who  is  absent;  (2)  the  desire 
to  aid  the  struggle  for  self-determination 
going  on  at  home;  (3)  the  desire  to  gain 
recognition  at  home,  preparatory  to  a  return; 
(4)  the  wish  to  improve  his  status  in  the 
eyes  of  the  American  pubUc  by  improving 
the  status  of  the  national  group;  (5)  the 
feeling  of  non-participation  in  American  life 
which  leads  to  the  attempt  to  create  here  a 
situation  in  which  he  can  participate.  All 
these  sentiments  stimulate  participation  in 
public  life,  some  of  them  participation  in 
American  life.  The  form  taken  by  the 
movement  in  the  difiFerent  groups  depends 
on  the  character  of  their  historical  expe- 

'  H.  L.  Harper,  The  French  Canadians  of  New  England 
(manuscript). 

I4ie 


IMMIGRANT  INSTITUTIONS 

riences.  When,  for  example,  the  superior 
member  of  a  foreign  group  compares  his 
community  with  the  larger  American  com- 
munity, and  particularly  when  he  is  humil- 
iated in  the  latter  because  of  his  connection 
with  the  former,  he  may  wish  to  repudiate 
his  native  group,  try  to  lose  the  marks  of 
identification  with  it,  because  he  is  ashamed 
of  it.  Thus,  the  cultured  Italian  may  find 
it  impossible  to  identify  himself  with  a 
Sicilian  group  containing  the  caffone  and 
black-hand  elements,  and  may  avoid  the 
Italian  group  altogether.  Similarly,  the  Jew 
may  wish  to  lose  his  identity  as  Jew  because 
of  the  popular  prejudice  against  his  race. 
But  this  effort  usually  fails  because  the 
individual  cannot  completely  lose  the  marks 
of  identity  with  his  native  group;  he  is 
betrayed  by  some  sign — ^his  speech  or  ges- 
tures, or  sentiments.  He  consequently  finds 
himself  out  of  his  old  society  without  being 
completely  in  a  new  one  and  in  a  painful 
position — without  recognition  from  any 
group  whatever.  We  find,  therefore,  that 
the  men  who  begin  by  deserting  their  groups 
end  by  attempting  to  improve  the  status  of 
these  groups — seeking  to  make  them  some- 
thing with  which  a  man  may  be  proud  to 
identify  himself.  The  fact  that  the  indi- 
vidual will  not  be  respected  unless  his  group 

143 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


is  respected  becomes  thus,  perhaps,  the  most 
sincere  som"ce  of  the  nationahstic  movements 
in  America.  To  this  extent  the  nationahstic 
movements  represent  an  effort  to  participate 
in  American  life. 

CULTURAL  INSTrrUTTONS 

There  remain  certain  cultural  institutions 
of  the  immigrant,  the  press,  the  theater,  the 
school,  the  church,  etc.  The  press  and  the 
school  are  treated  in  other  volumes  of  this 
series,  and  in  Chapters  VII  ahd  \T;II  we 
mention  these  institutions,  especially  the 
church  and  synagogue,  in  characterizing 
the  immigrant  community. 


VII 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 

The  community  comprised  of  a  number  of 
families  is  the  simplest  form  which  society 
has  assumed  in  the  universal  struggle  against 
death.  All  the  primary  human  needs  can 
be  satisfied  in  the  community.  Polish  peas- 
ant communities,  before  1860,  lived  as 
practically  self-suflBcient  groups.  They 
knew  by  report  that  there  was  a  great  world, 
and  they  had  some  relations  with  it,  through 
Jews  and  manor  owners;  they  had  a  priest 
and  the  religious-magical  traditions  of 
Christendom.  But  practically  the  extent 
of  their  world  was  the  ^'okolica,'^  "the 
neighborhood  round  about,"  and  their  defini- 
tion of  this  was,  "as  far  as  a  man  is  talked 
about."  Their  life  was  culturally  poor,  and 
they  showed  no  tendency  either  to  progress 
or  to  retrograde,  but  they  lived.  The  peasant 
did  not  know  he  was  a  Pole;  he  even  denied 
it.  The  lord  was  a  Pole;  he  was  a  peasant. 
We  have  records  showing  that  members  of 

145 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


other  immigrant  groups  realize  first  in  Amer- 
ica that  they  are  members  of  a  nationality: 
**  I  had  never  realized  I  was  an  Albanian  imtil 
my  brother  came  from  America  in  1909.  He 
belonged  to  an  Albanian  society  over  here."  ^ 
The  immigrants  here  tend  to  reproduce 
spontaneously  the  home  community  and  to 
live  in  it.  Letters  show  that  they  frequently 
reply  to  inquiries  from  home  for  a  descrip- 
tion of  America,  "I  have  not  yet  been  able 
to  see  America."  There  are  immigrants 
on  the  lower  East  Side  of  New  York  who 
have  been  here  for  twenty  years  and  have 
never  been  up  town.  Even  the  intellectual 
immigrants  feel  painfully  the  failure  to  meet 
cultivated  Americans.  (See  document  33, 
p.  46.) 

THE  ITALIANS 

Among  the  more  important  immigrant  groups 
the  Italians  show  perhaps  the  strongest  wish 
to  remain  in  solitary  communities.  They 
settle  here  by  villages  and  even  by  streets, 
neighbors  in  Italy  tending  to  become  neigh- 
bors here.  Map  3  shows  the  concentration 
of  immigrants  from  different  Italian  provinces 
and  Sicilian  towns  in  a  section  of  lower 
New  York. 

'  Menas  Laukas,  Life  History,  recorded  by  Winifred  Rauschen- 
busch  (manuscript). 

146 


N  ST. 


ITALIAN  PROVINCES 
r~~1  NAPLES 
IHI  CALABRIA 
IB  BASILICATA 

APUGLIA 
SICILY 


SICILIAN  TOWNS 
•PALERMO 
•SIACCA 

•girgenti 

•  MESSINA 


CANAL 


Map  3. — Bowery  Colony  of  Italians  Showing  Settlements 
According  to  Native  Provinces  and  Towns 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


The  colony,  from  the  village  of  Cinisi, 
Sicily,  in  the  vicinity  of  East  Sixty-ninth 
Street  and  Avenue  A,  New  York,  may  be 
taken  as  typical.  There  are  more  than  200 
families  at  this  point,  and  there  are  other 
groups  from  Cinisi  in  Brooklyn,  Harlem, 
and  on  Bleecker  Street.   (See  Map  10,  p.  242.) 

102.  The  colony  is  held  together  by  the  force  of 
custom.  People  do  exactly  as  they  did  in  Cinisi. 
If  some  one  varies,  he  or  she  will  be  criticized.  If 
many  vary — then  that  will  become  the  custom.  It 
is  by  the  group,  collectively,  that  they  progress. 
They  do  not  wish  the  members  of  the  colony  to 
improve  their  economic  conditions  or  to  withdraw. 
If  a  woman  is  able  to  buy  a  fine  dress,  they  say: 
"Look  at  that  villana  [serf]!  In  the  old  country  she 
used  to  carry  baskets  of  tomatoes  on  her  head  and 
now  she  carries  a  hat  on  it."  "Gee!  look  at  the 
daughter  of  so  and  so.  In  Cinisi  she  worked  in  the 
field  and  sunburnt  her  black.  Here  she  dares  to  carry 
a  parasol." 

So  strong  is  this  influence  that  people  hesitate  to 
wear  anything  except  what  was  customary  in  Cinisi. 
Everywhere  there  is  fear  of  being  "sparlata" — 
talked  badly  of.  A  woman  bought  a  pair  of  silk 
stockings  and  the  neighbors  talked  so  much  about 
her  that  her  husband  ordered  her  to  take  them 
oflf.  .  .  .  To  dress  poorly  is  criticized  and  to  dress 
sportily  is  criticized.  In  this  way  one  had  to  conform 
or  be  ostracized. 

A  number  of  families  moved  from  the  central 
group  of  Brooklyn.  There  they  have  combined 
and  rent  a  whole  two-story  house.   They  are  living 

147 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


better  than  those  in  the  other  groups  and  I  often 
hear  the  East  Sixty-ninth  Street  people  say:  "Look 
at  those  paesani  in  Brooklyn.  When  they  were 
here  they  were  in  financial  straits.  One  of  them 
had  to  flee  from  the  criticism  here.  He  did  not  have 
the  money  to  pay  his  moving  van  and  crowded  all 
his  furniture  into  a  small  one-horse  wagon.  He 
even  put  his  wife  on  to  save  car  fare.  He  left  a 
pile  of  debts  and  now  he  dares  come  around  here  with 
a  horse  and  buggy." 

If  a  wife  is  spied  by  another  Cinisaro  talking  to  a 
man  who  is  known  as  a  stranger — that  is,  who  is 
not  a  relative — she  is  gossiped  about:  she  has  the 
latent  willingness  to  become  a  prostitute.  They  say: 
"So  and  so's  wife  was  talking  with  an  American. 
Eh!  She  has  the  capacity  to  do  wrong." 

Nothing  in  the  American  women  surprises  them. 
They  have  already  made  an  unfavorable  judgment. 
My  mother,  for  instance,  was  about  to  say  that  my 
wife,  who  is  an  American,  was  an  exception  to  the 
rule,  but  when  my  wife  went  to  Central  Park  with 
the  baby  she  said,  "They  are  all  alike." 

The  colony  has  no  newspapers,  except  one  woman 
who  is  known  as  the  "Giomale  di  Sidlia,"  or  the 
"Journal  of  Sicily."  She  carries  the  news  and 
spreads  it  as  soon  as  said.  She  has  now  gone  to 
Italy  and  the  one  who  takes  her  place  is  a  gossiper 
who  is  known  as  a  "too-too" — referring  to  the  "toot- 
ing" of  a  town-crier's  horn.  She  is,  moreover,  ma- 
licious, and  gives  a  version  of  a  story  calculated  to 
produce  ridicule.  She  not  only  talks  about  the 
breakers  of  customs,  but  about  those  who  are  finan- 
cially low.  To  be  financially  low  is  looked  down 
upon,  and  the  Giomale  di  Sicilia  warns  people  to 
look  out  for  such  and  such  a  person,  as  he  may  ask 

U8 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


for  a  loan.  To  be  willing  to  lend  means  that  one 
has  accumulated  money  and  thus  the  secret  of  the 
lender  is  out.  So  this  is  the  reason  they  refuse  to 
lend  to  one  another  and  if  one  is  down  and  out  he 
would  rather  get  money  from  a  Jew  than  from  a 
paesano.  So  deceptive  are  they  as  to  their  financial 
standing  (partly  through  fear  of  blackmail)  that 
it  is  customary  to  figure  out  a  Cinisarian's  fortune 
not  by  what  he  says,  but  by  how  many  sons  and 
daughters  are  working. 

Now  and  then  some  Cinisarian  takes  his  chances 
in  the  business  world.  He  writes  to  his  relatives  in 
Cinisi,  has  oil,  wine,  and  figs,  lemons,  nuts,  etc., 
sent  to  him,  and  then  he  goes  from  house  to  house. 
He  does  not  enter  in  a  business  way,  but  goes  to 
visit  some  family,  talks  about  Cinisi,  then  informs 
them  that  he  has  received  some  produce  from  the 
home  town.  And  sure  enough,  the  people  will  say, 
"You  will  let  us  get  some,  eh?" 

"Of  course.  Tell  your  relatives.  I  can  get  all  you 
want." 

In  this  way  the  business  man  makes  his  sales. 
He  progresses  until  he  gets  a  place  opened  and  then 
come  his  worries.  He  must  forever  show  that  he  is 
poor,  that  he  is  barely  making  a  living,  for  fear  of 
some  attempt  to  extort  money  from  him. 

Not  many  men  of  the  Cinisi  group  are  in  business 
in  New  York,  the  reason  being  that  one  Cinisarian 
will  not  compete  with  another  in  the  same  line  of 
business. 

The  central  group  is  closely  imited  and  there  is 
little  possibility  that  they  will  adopt  any  customs  of 
the  neighboring  peoples,  who  are  mostly  Irish  and 
Bohemians.  The  Irishwomen  are  considered  wives 
of  drunkards  and,  as  all  of  the  husband's  salary 
11  149 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


goes  to  the  bartender,  the  wives  are  believed  to  earn 
a  living  in  prostituting  themselves.  The  Bohemians 
are  libertines;  the  girls  are  free;  and,  moreover, 
Bohemians  and  Hungarians  are  looked  upon  as 
bastard  peoples. 

In  the  Cinisi  colony  there  are  no  political  parties. 
The  group  has  not  been  interested  in  citizenship. 
Of  250,  one  or  two  were  citizens  before  the  war  and 
now  all  those  who  returned  from  the  war  are  also 
citizens.  These  young  men  sell  their  votes  for 
favors.  The  average  Cinisaro,  like  all  foreigners, 
has  the  opinion  that  a  vote  means  $5.  The 
Cinisaro  knows  of  corruption  at  home.  In  Cinisi 
there  is  very  much  of  it.  Money  is  raised  to  build 
a  water  system  for  Cinisi  year  after  year,  and  it  gets 
away  without  a  water  system  coming  in  exchange. 

The  Cinisi  group  are  more  interested  in  Cinisarian 
politics  than  in  American.  They  talk  of  the  parties 
of  the  artisans,  of  the  gentlemen,  of  the  villani,  of  the 
hunters,  in  Cinisi. 

Most  of  the  Cinisari  in  the  Sixty-ninth  Street 
group  intend  to  return  to  Sicily.  The  town  of  Cinisi 
is  forever  in  their  minds:  "I  wonder  if  I  can  get 
back  in  time  for  the  next  crop?" — "I  hope  I  can  get 
back  in  time  for  the  festa" — "  I  hope  I  can  reach  Cinisi 
in  time  to  get  a  full  stomach  of  Indian  figs,"  etc. 
They  receive  mail  keeping  them  informed  as  to  the 
most  minute  details,  and  about  all  the  gossip  that 
goes  on  in  Cinisi  in  addition;  they  keep  the  home 
town  informed  as  to  what  is  going  on  here.  They 
write  home  of  people  here  who  have  transgressed 
some  custom:  "So-and-so  married  an  American 
girl.  The  American  girls  are  libertines.  The  boy 
is  very  disobedient."  "So-and-so  who  failed  to 
succeed  at  college  in  Palermo,  is  here.    He  has 

150 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


married  a  stranger" — that  is,  an  Italian  of  another 
town.  In  this  way  they  blacken  a  man's  name  in 
Cinisi,  so  that  a  bad  reputation  awaits  him  on  his 
return. 

The  reputation  given  them  in  Cinisi  by  report 
from  here  means  much  to  them,  because  they  expect 
to  return.  Whole  families  have  the  date  fixed. 
Those  who  express  openly  their  intention  of  remaining 
here  are  the  young  Americanized  men. 

When  the  festival  of  Santa  Fara,  the  patron  saint 
of  Cinisi,  was  planned  (partly  as  a  reproduction  of 
the  home  custom,  partly  as  an  expression  of  gratitude 
to  Santa  Fara  for  the  miracle  of  ending  the  war), 
there  was  some  opposition  on  the  ground  that  all 
funds  should  be  sent  to  Cinisi  for  the  festival  there. 
The  festival  was  held  (April  26  and  27,  1919),  but 
was  so  disappointing  that  it  is  said  to  have  increased 
the  desire  to  return  to  Cinisi  and  see  the  original.^ 

103.  Until  1914  the  Sicilian  colony  in  Chicago 
was  an  absolutely  foreign  community.  The  immi- 
grants were  mostly  from  villages  near  Palermo, 
though  nearly  all  of  the  Sicilian  provinces  are  repre- 
sented. The  most  important  of  the  village  groups 
are  those  from  Alta  Villa  Milicia,  Bagheria  Vicari, 
Cimmina,  Termini-Imarezi,  Monreali,  and  the  city 
of  Palermo.  These  groups  retained  their  identity, 
living  together  as  far  as  possible,  intermarrying  and 
celebrating  the  traditional  feasts.  Immigrants  who 
settled  in  Louisiana  came  up  to  join  their  village 
colony.  Those  who  had  been  leaders  in  Sicily  retained 
their  power  here  and,  having  greater  force  and  intelli- 
gence, made  contracts  with  local  politicians,  police 
officials,  labor  agents,  and  real  estate  dealers,  and 

*  Gaspare  Cusumano,  Siudy  of  the  Colony  of  Cinisi  in  New  York 
City  (manuscript). 

151 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


became  the  go-betweens  for  their  colony  and  the 
outside-world  labor  agents. 

Women  continued  to  live  as  they  had  in  Sicily, 
never  leaving  their  homes  except  to  make  ceremonial 
visits  or  to  attend  mass.  The  presence  of  several 
garment  factories  in  the  district  made  it  possible 
for  them  to  earn  by  doing  finishing  at  home.  Li 
later  years  himdreds  of  women  went  into  the  garment 
factories  to  work,  some  taking  the  street  cars  out 
of  the  district;  but  they  went  to  and  from  work  in 
groups,  their  shawls  carefully  WTapped  about  them. 

In  the  entire  district  there  was  no  food  for  sale 
that  was  not  distinctly  foreign;  it  was  impossible  to 
buy  butter,  American  cheese,  sweet  potatoes,  pumpkin, 
green  corn,  etc.,  but  in  season  artichokes,  cactus  fruit 
(fichi  d' India),  pomegranates,  cocozella,  and  various 
herbs  and  greens  never  sold  in  other  parts  of  town 
were  plentiful.  There  were  no  bookstores.  ItaUan 
newspapers  had  a  limited  circulation,  and  the  Chicago 
daily  papers  were  sold  at  only  two  transfer  points 
on  the  edge  of  the  district.  There  were  no  evidences 
of  taste  in  dress  or  house  decoration.  This  group 
seemed  to  have  had  no  folk  music,  but  took  great 
pleasure  in  band  concerts  when  spirited  marches 
and  melodies  from  Verdi's  operas  were  played.  There 
was  no  educational  standard;  the  older  people  were 
almost  all  illiterate;  they  accepted  this  as  natural 
and  explained  it  by  saying,  "We  are  contadini, 
and  our  heads  are  too  thick  to  learn  letters."  Some 
of  the  younger  ones  had  had  a  little  elementary 
training,  but  with  very  few  exceptions  no  one  in  the 
colony  had  gone  beyond  the  "quarto  elementario." 
Few  had  seen  miUtary  service  or  learned  trades 
except,  of  course,  the  tailors,  barbers,  and  shoemakers. 
One  heard  of  an  occasional  cabinet  maker,  harness 

152 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


maker,  solderer,  carpenter,  or  mason,  but  none 
followed  his  trade  here,  as  the  training  did  not  fit 
him  to  American  methods.  Many  who  had  worked 
in  the  orchards  in  Sicily  found  their  way  to  South 
Water  Street  and  worked  as  truckers  and  fruit 
packers  and,  becoming  familiar  with  the  way  produce 
was  handled,  started  their  friends  out  as  fruit  and 
vegetable  peddlers,  thus  establishing  a  wholesale 
business  for  themselves.  Most  of  the  men,  however, 
were  sent  by  their  leaders  to  the  railroads  and  building 
contractors  as  laborers.  .  .  . 

Individually,  Sicilians  seem  to  vary  as  much  in 
their  manner  and  ideals  as  Americans,  but  as  a 
group  they  have  certain  very  marked  character- 
istics— reserve,  suspicion,  susceptibility  to  gossip, 
timidity,  and  the  desire  to  "/a  figura."  Intense 
family  pride,  however,  is  the  outstanding  character- 
istic, and  as  the  family  unit  not  only  includes  those 
related  by  blood,  but  those  related  by  ritual  bonds 
as  well  (the  commare  and  compare),  and  as  inter- 
marriage in  the  village  groups  is  a  common  practice, 
this  family  pride  becomes  really  a  clan  pride. 

The  Extent  to  which  family  loyalty  goes  is  almost 
beyond  behef;  no  matter  how  disgraced  or  how 
disgraceful  a  member  may  be,  he  is  never  cast  off, 
the  unsuccessful  are  assisted,  the  selfish  are  indulged, 
the  erratic  patiently  born  with.  Old  age  is  respected 
and  babies  are  objects  of  adoration.  The  self-respect 
of  a  man  can  be  gauged  by  the  number  of  his  children, 
and  the  women  seem  to  accept  the  yearly  bearing 
of  a  child  as  a  privilege.  Both  children  and  adults 
seem  satisfied  with  the  social  opportunities  offered 
within  the  family  itself.  The  births,  baptisms, 
chrisms,  betrothals,  marriages,  and  deaths  furnish 
the  occasion  for  ceremonial  visits  and  festivities. 

153 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


Traditional  religious  forms  and  superstitions  are 
observed  on  these  occasious,  but  the  church  and  the 
priest  seem  adjuncts  rather  than  the  center  of  the 
various  rites. 

The  leaders  of  the  village  groups  organize  brother- 
hoods for  the  purpose  of  perpetuating  the  feast  of  the 
patron  saint  and  to  arrange  the  elaborate  funerals 
with  which  they  honor  the  dead.  The  societies 
meet  each  month,  collect  dues,  have  endless  and 
excited  discussions  over  the  petty  business  that  is 
transacted,  with,  however,  most  serious  regard  for 
rules  of  order.  Some  of  the  fratellanza  have  women's 
auxiliaries,  but  they  are  directed  entirely  by  the 
men,  and  the  women  seem  to  have  no  voice  in  the 
conduct  of  aflFairs;  they  pay  dues  and  march  in  the 
processions.  The  annual  feast  is  the  great  event  of 
the  year,  exceeded  in  importance  by  Easter  only. 
The  group  responsible  for  a  feast  put  up  posters 
announcing  the  day  and  the  program,  and  through 
committees  arrange  for  all  of  the  details  of  the 
celebration;  electric-light  festoons  are  strung  across 
the  streets,  concessions  for  street  booths  are  sold, 
bands  are  hired,  band  stands  are  erected,  and  the 
church  is  paid  for  a  special  mass  and  for  the  serAnces 
of  the  priest  who  leads  the  procession.  The  whole 
community  participates  to  some  extent,  but  those 
from  the  village  whose  patron  is  being  honored 
make  the  most  elaborate  preparation  in  their 
homes.  .  .  .  Those  who  have  been  ill  or  sufiFered 
physical  injury  during  the  year  buy  wax  figures 
of  the  part  that  was  affected — legs,  hands,  breasts, 
etc.,  to  carry  in  procession;  others  carry  long  candles 
with  ribbon  streamers  to  which  money  is  aflSxed 
by  a  member  of  the  brotherhood  who  rides  on  the 
shrine  and  exhorts  the  crowds  to  make  their  offering. 

154 


THE  EMXnORANT  COMMUNITY 


The  shrine  is  lowered  to  the  street  every  hundred 
feet  or  so  and  little  children  are  undressed,  their 
clothes  left  as  an  offering,  and  they  are  lifted  to 
kiss  the  lips  of  the  saint.  Sometimes  a  blind  or 
lame  child  is  carried  about  on  the  shrine  in  the  hope 
of  a  miraculous  cure.  The  climax  is  the  flight  of  the 
angels.  The  shrine  is  set  in  the  middle  of  the  street 
in  front  of  the  church,  and  two  children,  dressed  as 
angels  and  bearing  armfuls  of  flowers,  are  lowered 
by  strong  ropes  so  that  they  are  suspended  just 
over  the  figure  of  the  saint,  where  they  sway  while 
chanting  a  long  prayer. 

The  offerings  made  during  the  most  important 
of  these  feasts  amount  to  from  four  to  six  thousand 
dollars.  This  money  goes  into  the  treasury  of  the 
fratellanza  and  is  used  for  the  expense  incurred  by 
the  festa  and  for  the  death  benefit.  There  are  those 
who  say  that  tribute  is  paid  to  certain  individuals  as 
weU. 

These  feasts  are  not  approved  by  the  priest,  and 
people  say  that  trouble  is  started  by  the  jealousy 
aroused  when  one  village  tries  to  outdo  the  other. 
It  certainly  is  true  that  at  these  festas  there  is  often 
a  shooting. 

The  position  of  women  in  the  Sicilian  homes  in 
this  district  is  hard  to  define.  The  general  impression 
is  that  women  are  slaves  to  their  husbands,  but 
this  is  far  from  true  except  in  the  cases  of  very 
ignorant  and  primitive  types.  The  head  of  the 
family  takes  the  responsibility  of  protecting  the 
women  and  girls  very  seriously,  and  for  this  reason 
women  have  little  life  outside  their  homes.  It  is  a 
mark  of  good  breeding  for  a  man  to  show  "la  gelosia" 
regarding  his  wife  and  daughters,  and  it  would 
be  a  sign  of  disrespect  to  them  if  he  did  not  guard 

155 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


them  carefully.  Within  the  home,  however,  the  wife 
directs  the  household  and  it  is  not  unusual  for  her 
to  take  the  lead  in  family  affairs,  such  as  the  expendi- 
ture of  money,  plans  for  the  children,  or  the  choice 
of  friends. 

When  a  girl  reaches  the  age  of  twelve  her  freedom 
comes  to  an  end;  she  is  considered  old  enough  to 
put  away  childish  things.  Until  she  is  married  she 
is  not  supposed  to  have  any  interest  outside  her  home 
except  school  or  work,  and  with  these  two  exceptions 
she  is  not  supposed  to  be  out  of  her  mother's  sight. 
A  family  that  fails  to  observe  this  rule  is  subject  to 
criticism. 

A  marriage  is  arranged  by  the  parents  as  soon  as  a 
suitable  young  man  of  their  village  presents  himself. 
The  girl  is  not  consulted  and  often  does  not  even 
know  whom  she  is  to  marry  until  the  matter  is  all 
settled.  After  a  girl  is  promised  her  fiance  must 
be  consulted  before  she  can  go  out,  and  she  never 
appears  in  public  without  her  mother  or  father  in 
attendance.  It  has  become  the  custom  to  have  a 
civil  ceremony  performed  shortly  after  the  betrothal. 
This  does  not  constitute  a  marriage  and  often  it  is 
several  months  or  even  a  year  or  two  before  the 
actual  marriage  takes  place.  Meanwhile  the  engaged 
couple  meet  only  in  the  presence  of  their  parents  or 
attend  various  family  ceremonies  together,  always 
suitably  chaperoned. 

Sometimes  a  girl  is  coveted  by  a  man  considered 
undesirable  by  her  parents,  or  by  one  who  did  not 
know  her  before  she  was  engaged.  In  such  a  case 
the  man  may  try  to  force  his  attentions  on  her  in 
the  hope  of  attracting  her  in  spite  of  her  parents  or 
her  promise.  If  she  does  not  respond  and  will  not 
elope  voluntarily,  it  is  not  unusual  for  him  to  try  to 

156 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


take  her  by  force,  either  carrying  her  off  himself  or 
getting  his  friends  to  kidnap  her  and  bring  her  to 
some  secret  place.  When  a  girl  becomes  engaged 
her  family  is  on  the  lookout  for  just  such  occurrences, 
and  if  they  have  any  suspicion  that  she  is  being  pur- 
sued she  is  kept  a  prisoner  until  she  is  safely  married. 
If  the  man  is  known  he  is  dealt  with  in  no  uncertain 
•vray — told  to  stop  or  take  the  consequences. 

If  a  girl  permits  herself  to  be  kidnaped  the  affair 
is  usually  ended  with  the  blessings  of  all  concerned, 
though  the  jilted  one  sometimes  makes  it  necessary 
for  the  couple  to  move  to  another  part  of  town,  at 
least  until  he  consoles  himseK  with  another  wife. 
If  a  girl  is  carried  away  entirely  against  her  will 
there  may  be  bloodshed  as  a  result. 

Not  all  kidnapings  occur  in  this  way;  often 
impatient  men,  tiring  of  the  long  and  ceremonious 
period  of  betrothal  and  failing  to  persuade  the 
fiancee  to  elope,  try  to  carry  her  away.  A  well-bred 
girl  will  put  up  a  good  fight  to  escape,  and  if  she 
succeeds  the  engagement  is  broken;  but  if  she  is 
forced  to  submit  the  family  accept  the  situation  and 
all  is  forgiven.  There  are,  of  course,  many  voluntary 
elopements  by  young  people  who  are  attracted  by 
one  another  and  who,  because  of  family  differences, 
could  never  get  the  consent  of  their  parents. 

Seduction  is  an  almost  unheard-of  thing  among 
the  foreign  people  and  in  the  few  instances  where  a 
girl  has  been  wronged  it  has  meant  certain  death  to 
her  betrayer.  Not  long  ago  a  man  seduced  a  young 
girl  and  left  town  when  he  discovered  that  she  was 
pregnant.  Her  family  moved  from  the  district  and 
after  a  few  months  the  man.  Piazza,  returned.  The 
girl's  brothers  met  him  and  seemed  friendly,  so  he 
agreed  to  visit  their  new  home.    Shots  were  heard 

157 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TK\NSPLANTED 


by  neighbors,  and  when  the  police  arrived  they 
found  Piazza  and  the  girl's  oldest  brother  dead. 
The  bodies  were  seated  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
table  and  it  is  supposed  that  both  drew  and  fired 
their  revolvers  simultaneously. 

During  the  last  fotu"  years  there  has  been  a  great 
change,  the  colony  is  slowly  disintegrating,  old 
customs  are  gi\Tag  way.  Contacts  with  the  outside 
world,  through  work  and  school,  have  given  boys  and 
girls  a  \'ision  of  freedom  and  new  opportunity.  They 
are  going  to  night  schools  and  making  their  friends 
outside  the  old  circle.  They  are  out  of  patience 
with  the  petty  interests  and  quarrels  of  the  older 
group  and  refuse  to  have  their  hves  ordered  by  their 
parents,  whom  they  know  to  be  ignorant  and  in- 
experienced. Families  are  not  being  broken  up,  the 
deep  affections  still  persist,  and  though  the  old 
folks  have  misgivings,  in  their  indulgent  way  they 
are  letting  the  new  generation  take  the  lead  and 
are  proud  of  their  progressive  sons  and  daughters. 
Young  married  couples  are  making  their  homes  north 
of  the  old  district,  within  easy  reach  of  their  parents, 
but  away  from  the  old  associations.  EN-idences  of  re- 
finement are  seen  in  their  homes  and  in  their  manner, 
and  their  children  are  dressed  and  fed  according  to 
most  modern  standards.  ^ 

It  appears  from  these  statements:  (1) 
that  the  Sicilian  heritages  are  so  difiFerent 
from  the  American  that  the  members  of  this 
group  feel  no  original  interest  in  partici- 
pating in  American  life;   (2)  that  this  dif- 

*  Marie  Leavitt,  Report  on  the  Sicilian  Colony  in  Chicago 
(manuscript). 

158 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMIklUNITY 


ference  is  accepted  in  America  as  a  natural 
fact,  somewhat  as  an  outlying  herd  of 
animals  would  be  accepted  and  tolerated 
or  exploited,  without  thought  of  its  social 
incorporation;  (3)  that  this  solitary  group 
is  almost  as  inaccessible  to  superior  indi- 
viduals of  its  own  nationality  who  might  be 
its  leaders  as  to  American  influence  (see 
document  82,  p.  104) ;  and  (4)  that,  never- 
theless, the  mass  begins  to  dissolve  and 
change,  owing  to  informal  contacts  with 
American  life,  made  especially  by  the  younger 
generation,  and  certainly  largely  through 
the  public  school,  which  is  the  one  point  at 
which  contact  is  formal  and  inevitable. 

THE  CHESTESE 

The  personality  of  the  individual  is  always 
more  impenetrable  to  the  student  than  are 
the  institutions  which  represent  him.  While 
it  is  difficult,  for  example,  to  understand  a 
Chinese,  there  is  nothing  mysterious  about 
Chinese  institutions.  The  more  data  we 
secure  on  them,  the  more  we  are  impressed 
with  their  resemblance  to  our  own. 

The  Chinese  are  pre-eminently  a  demo- 
cratic and  a  vUlage  people.  The  different 
provinces  are  only  loosely  bound  to  the 
central  government,  and  the  people  have 

159 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


made  many  local  alliances.  There  are  in 
China  (1)  about  450  clans,  the  general  pur- 
pose of  which  is  defense  against  the  central 
government,  mutual  aid  in  business  and 
other  affairs;  (2)  trade  organizations,  or 
guilds,  with  objects  similar  to  those  in 
Europe;  (3)  town  and  district  councils, 
resembling  the  peasant  communes  and  town 
councils  of  Europe  and  America. 

In  America  the  Chinese  is  even  more  help- 
less than  the  European  immigrant.  He 
finds  more  strangeness  and  prejudice,  and 
the  Chinese  do  not  bring  their  families,  and 
consequently  cannot  live  in  complete  colonies. 
The  result  is  the  formation  of  communities 
of  men.  The  Six  Companies  and  the  various 
tongs  represent  the  form  taken  by  the  com- 
munity when  not  based  directly  on  the 
family.  The  following  document,  if  read 
with  reference  to  its  provision  and  prohibi- 
tions, illustrates  the  character  which  Chinese 
community  life  tends  to  assume  under  these 
conditions: 

104.  ...  People  of  the  three  districts  of  Heang- 
shan,  Tung-yuen,  and  Tsang-shing  are  required  to 
report  themselves  at  the  company's  room;  otherwise 
the  company  will  exercise  no  care  for  them  in  their 
concerns. 

The  entrance  fee  shall  be  ten  dollars;  if  not  paid 
within  six  months,  interest  will  be  expected.  .  .  . 

160 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


No  fees  will  be  required  from  those  proved  to  be 
invalids  or  from  transient  persons.  .  .  .  Disputes 
will  not  be  settled  between  persons  who  have  not 
paid  the  entrance  fee.  Members  purposing  to  return 
to  China  must  make  the  fact  known  to  the  agents, 
when  their  accounts  will  be  examined,  and  measures 
will  be  taken  to  prevent  it  if  the  entrance  fee  or  other 
debts  remain  unpaid.  Strangers  to  the  agents  of 
the  company  must  obtain  security  of  persons  who 
will  be  responsible  for  their  character  and  debts. 
Members  leaving  clandestinely  shall  be  hable  to  a 
fine  of  fifty  dollars;  and  the  security  for  a  debt,  for 
helping  one  thus  to  abscond,  shall  be  fined  one 
hundred  dollars. 

In  the  company's  house  there  must  be  no  conceal- 
ment of  stolen  goods;  no  strangers  brought  to 
lodge;  no  gunpowder  or  other  combustible  material; 
no  gambling;  no  drunkenness;  no  cooking  (except 
in  the  proper  quarters);  no  burning  of  sacrificial 
papers;  no  accumulation  of  baggage;  no  filth;  no 
bathing;  no  filching  of  oil;  no  heaps  of  rags  and 
trash;  no  wrangling  and  noise;  no  injury  of  the 
property  of  the  company;  no  goods  belonging  to 
thieves;  no  slops  of  victuals.  For  the  hea\aer  of 
these  offenses  complaint  shall  be  made  to  the  police 
of  the  city;  for  the  lighter,  persons  shall  be  expelled 
from  the  company.  Baggage  will  not  be  allowed  to 
remain  longer  than  three  years,  when  it  must  be 
removed;  nor  more  than  one  chest  to  each  person. 

Invalids  that  cannot  labor,  are  poor  and  without 
relatives,  may  be  returned  to  China  at  the  expense 
of  the  company  for  their  passage  money;  but  pro- 
visions and  fuel  and  other  expenses  must  be  obtained 
by  subscriptions.  CoflSns  may  be  furnished  for 
the  poor,  but  of  such  a  careful  record  shall  be  kept. 

161 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


Quarrels  and  troubles  about  claims  in  the  mines 
should  be  referred  to  the  company,  where  they  shall 
be  duly  considered.  If  any  should  refuse  to  abide 
by  the  decision  of  the  company,  it  will  nevertheless 
assist  the  injured  and  defend  them  from  violence. 
If,  when  foreigners  do  Lnjiiry,  a  complaint  is  made 
and  the  company  exerts  itself  to  have  justice  done 
without  avail,  it  ought  to  be  submitted  to.  What- 
ever is  referred  for  settlement  to  the  assembly  of  the 
five  companies  conjointly,  cannot  be  brought  before 
this  company  alone. 

Where  a  man  is  killed  a  reward  shall  be  offered 
by  the  company  for  apprehension  and  trial,  the 
money  being  paid  only  when  he  shall  have  been 
seized;  the  members  of  the  company  shall  subscribe 
each  according  to  what  is  just.  If  more  than  the 
anticipated  amoimt  is  required,  the  friends  of  the 
deceased  shall  make  up  the  deficiency.  Complaint 
shall  be  made  of  offenders  to  the  civil  courts,  and 
proclamations  for  their  arrest  shall  be  placarded  in 
the  principal  towns;  but  anyone  found  guilty  of 
concealing  them  shall  pay  all  the  expenses  to  which 
the  company  has  been  put.  Difficulties  with  members 
of  other  companies  shall  be  reported  to  the  agents 
of  this  company,  and,  if  justice  demand,  shall  be 
referred  for  the  judgment  of  the  five  companies 
conjointly.  Offenses  committed  on  shipboard,  upon 
the  sea,  shall  be  referred  to  the  five  companies 
conjointly.  Difficulties  brought  upon  men  by  their 
own  vices  and  foUies  wiU  not  receive  attention. 
Thievery  and  recei\Tng  of  stolen  goods  will  not  be 
protected;  nor  will  troubles  in  bawdy  houses  nor 
those  in  gambling  houses;  nor  debts  to  such;  nor 
extortions  of  secret  associations;  nor  the  quarrels  of 
such  associations;   nor  those  who  are  injured  in 

162 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 

consequence  of  refusal  to  pay  their  licenses;  nor 
smuggling;  nor  any  violation  of  American  laws. 
The  company  will  not  consider  complaints  from  a 
distance,  of  a  doubtful  character,  or  without  suf- 
jBcient  proof.  No  reply  will  be  made  to  anonymous 
letters,  or  those  without  date  and  a  specification  of 
the  true  origin  and  natiwe  of  difiSculties.  Names 
must  be  carefully  given  in  all  complaints  from  the 
interior.  No  payments  of  money  will  be  made  in  the 
settlement  of  cases  where  the  rules  of  the  company 
are  not  complied  with.  Where  the  conduct  of  an 
individual  is  such  as  to  bring  disgrace  on  the  company 
and  upon  his  countrymen,  he  shaU  be  expelled,  and 
a  notice  to  that  effect  be  placarded  in  each  of  the 
five  companies'  houses;  nor  wiU  the  company  be 
responsible  for  any  of  his  subsequent  villainies,  or 
even  make  any  investigation  should  he  meet  with 
any  violent  death.  Costs  connected  with  the  settle- 
ment of  disputes  shall  be  borne  by  the  party  decided 
to  be  in  the  wrong.  In  difficulties  of  a  pressing  and 
important  character  in  the  mines  a  messenger  shall 
be  sent  thence,  and  a  judicious  person  shaU  at  once 
accompany  him  to  the  place.  In  any  quarrel  where 
men  are  killed  or  wounded  the  person  who  originated 
it  shall  be  held  accountable.  Any  defensive  weapons 
belonging  to  the  company  shall  be  given  to  individuals 
only  after  joint  consultation,  and  the  registry  of 
their  names.  Those  requiring  such  weapons  of 
defense  shall  give  security  for  their  return.  If  any 
shall  take  them  on  their  own  responsibility  they  shall 
be  held  accountable  for  any  consequences.^ 

105.    The  Chinaman  only  knows  the  company 

*  Translation  of  portions  of  the  rules  of  the  Yeung-Wo  Ui-Kun 
(one  of  the  Chinese  Six  Gjmpanies)  by  E.  B.  Speer,  "Democracy  of 
the  Chinese,"  Harper's  Magazine,  vol.  xxxvii,  p.  845. 

163 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


which  brings  him  here.  He  does  not  know  what 
he  could  do.  He  looks  to  his  company  for  the  food 
he  eats  when  he  lands  here;  he  is  taken  care  of  by 
them;  he  is  sent  to  the  country  by  them  here  and 
there  in  the  reclamation  of  swamp  and  submerged 
land.i 

In  addition,  the  Chinese  have  formed 
various  more  intimate  associations  or  tongs. 
The  word  "tong"  means  *'a  society,"  but 
in  China  the  term  was  restricted  to  the  kin- 
ship group.  Here  it  has  become  a  term  of 
general  application.  Thus  the  Hong  Tuck 
Tong  is  the  cigar  makers'  union,  the  Hong 
Wo  Tong,  the  gold  and  silver  workers' 
union.  Three  facts — (1)  the  absence  of  the 
family  as  a  factor  in  community  life;  (2)  the 
method  of  immigration  (document  105), 
which  is  not  arranged,  in  general,  by  cor- 
respondence with  relatives  and  friends 
already  in  this  country,  and  so  does  not 
result  in  the  formation  of  settlements  here 
based  on  kinship  and  acquaintance,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  European  immigrants;  and 
(3)  the  lack  of  all  participation  and  prospect 
of  participation  in  American  life — have  con- 
tributed to  the  formation  of  certain  notorious 
and  positively  antisocial  Chinese  associations. 
Thus,  the  Hip  Ye  Tong  and  the  Po  Sang 

*  Testimony  of  Clinton  Hastings,  U.  S.  Industrial  Commission, 
Report  for  1901,  vol.  xv,  p.  593. 

164 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


Tong  have  been  connected  with  gambhng 
and  traffic  in  women,  and  the  "highbinders," 
the  Chi  Kung  Tong,  have  a  general  resem- 
blance to  the  Italian  Black  Hand.  We  see 
here,  as  we  shall  see  later  in  studying  the 
Black  Hand  activities,  that  when  the  atti- 
tudes of  a  group  are  so  far  different  from 
ours  that  it  is  neither  willing  nor  able  to  par- 
ticipate in  our  society,  its  members  tend  to 
become  a  predatory  element. 

106.  In  general  the  highbinders  ,  .  .  exist  on 
blackmail,  on  pay  for  protecting  gambling  houses 
and  disreputable  places  in  general.  I  know  that 
they  take  it  upon  themselves  to  try  cases,  to  review 
judgments  of  our  coiu'ts  with  utter  disregard  for  our 
laws.  I  know  that  they  nullify  our  decisions.  For 
instance,  if  an  American  court  had  rendered  a  de- 
cision, they  would  intimidate  the  witnesses  so  that 
when  the  cases  go  into  a  higher  court  everything 
would  be  changed.  They  defy  our  courts  by  ways 
and  means  of  their  own.  I  know  that  they  impose 
their  own  sentences  upon  offenders  from  their  own 
standpoint.  They  levy  fines  in  some  cases  and 
death  in  others.  I  know  that  they  have  in  their 
service  paid  men  to  do  the  killing,  and  so  long  have 
they  had  this  service  that  the  men  have  a  particular 
name;  they  are  called  "hatchet  men."  I  know 
they  control  our  judicial  oaths;  that  they  c&n  say 
an  oath  shall  or  shall  not  be  taken.  I  know  them 
as  organized  societies  of  crime.  .  .  .  They  distribute 
revolvers  to  their  members  ,  .  .  and  I  know  they 
use  our  coiu-ts,  if  necessary,  to  enforce  their  de- 
cisions ...  by  laying  a  charge  against  a  certain 
12  165 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

Chinaman  and  having  our  judge  pronounce  the 
sentence.  I  know  that  these  highbinders  furnish 
witnesses  for  anything  wanted  at  so  much  a  head. 
I  have  had  cases  in  which  men  have  come  forward 
to  testify,  and  when  the  time  came  they  were  spirited 
away.  I  know  that  the  headquarters  of  these  societies 
are  in  San  Francisco,  but  they  have  branches  in 
Canada.  Speaking  approximately,  I  would  say  that 
there  are  as  many  as  from  1,500  to  2,000  highbinders 
in  San  Francisco.^ 

107.    To  Lum  Hip,  salaried  soldier: 

It  has  been  said  that  to  plan  schemes  and  devise 
methods  and  to  hold  the  seal  is  the  work  of  the 
literary  class,  while  to  oppose  foes,  fight  battles,  and 
plant  firm  government  is  the  work  of  the  military. 

Now,  this  long  appoints  salaried  soldiers,  to  be 
ready  to  protect  ourselves  and  assist  others.  This 
is  our  object. 

All,  therefore,  who  imdertake  the  military  service 
of  this  long  must  obey  orders  and  without  orders 
you  must  not  dare  to  act.  If  any  of  our  brethren 
are  suddenly  molested,  it  will  be  necessary  for  you 
to  act  with  resolute  will. 

You  shall  always  work  to  the  interest  of  the  iong  and 
never  make  your  oflBce  a  means  of  private  revenge. 

When  orders  are  given  you  shall  advance  valiantly 
to  your  assigned  task.  Never  shrink  or  turn  your 
back  upon  the  battlefield. 

When  a  ship  arrives  in  port  with  prostitutes  on 
board  and  the  grand  master  issues  an  order  for  you 
to  go  down  and  receive  them,  you  must  be  punctual 
and  use  all  your  ability  for  the  good  of  the  common- 
wealth [or  state]. 

1  Testimony  of  J.  Endicott  Gardner,  U.  S.  Indnstrial  Conv 
■mission.  Report  for  1901,  vol.  xv,  pp.  76&-770. 

166 


THE  BIMIGRANT  COI^IMUNITY 


If  in  the  discharge  of  your  duty  you  are  slain,  we 
will  undertake  to  pay  $500  sympathy  money  to 
your  friends. 

If  you  are  wounded,  a  doctor  wiU  be  engaged  to 
heal  your  woimds,  and  if  you  are  laid  up  for  any 
length  of  time  you  will  receive  $10  per  month. 

If  you  are  maimed  for  life  and  incapacitated  for 
work,  $250  shall  be  paid  to  you  and  a  subscription 
taken  to  defray  costs  of  your  journey  home  to  China. 

This  paper  is  given  as  proof,  as  word  of  mouth 
may  not  be  beUeved. 

Furthermore,  whenever  you  exert  your  strength 
to  kill  or  wound  enemies  of  this  long  and  in  so  doing 
you  are  arrested  and  imprisoned,  $100  a  year  shall  be 
paid  to  your  friends  during  yoiu*  imprisonment. 

Dated  13th  day  of  5th  month  of  14th  year  of 
Kwong  Sui,  Victoria,  B.  C. 

(Seal  of  Ches  Kong  Tong).i 

THE  JAPANESE 

The  Japanese  in  America  have  been  treated 
by  their  home  country  as  colonists  here. 
The  Japanese  Empire  has  the  bureaucratic 
type  of  efficiency,  and  the  Japanese  Associa- 
tion in  America,  with  its  various  branches, 
is  practically  a  department  of  the  Japa- 
nese government.  The  accompanying  map 
shows  the  cities  in  California  having  Japa- 
nese associations.    It  acts  as  a  bureau  of 

*  Letter  of  instructions  to  a  highbinder,  attached  to  the  state- 
ment of  J.  Endicott  Gardner,  U.  S.  Industrial  Commission,  Report 
jor  1901.  vol.  XV,  p.  771. 

167 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

information  for  the  Japanese  immigrants, 
registers  and  regulates  them,  and  advises 
the  home  government  as  to  problems  arising 


Map  4. — Caufornta  Branches  of  the  Japanese  Association 


here.  The  Japanese  are  consequently  the 
most  efficiently  and  completely  organized 
among  the  unmigrant  groups. 

168 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


108.  The  Japanese  government  has  evinced  an 
unusual  interest  in  the  whereabouts  and  activities 
of  its  subjects.  The  immigration  companies  developed 
out  of  it;  emigrants  have  been  treated,  it  would 
appear,  almost  as  colonists.  Certain  obligations 
were  laid  upon  the  emigration  companies  to  care 
for  those  emigrating  through  them,  and  under 
certain  circumstances  to  provide  for  their  return  to 
the  native  land.  Appeals  to  the  government  at  home 
have  been  frequent  and  the  response  has  been  quickly 
made.  The  closeness  of  the  relation  between  the 
government  and  its  subjects,  and  the  solicitude  of 
one  for  the  rights  and  welfare  of  the  other,  have 
been  important  in  explaining  the  situation  which 
has  developed  in  the  West.^ 

109.  The  Japanese  Association  was  organized  in 
1900,  at  the  time  of  the  threatened  outbreak  of 
bubonic  plague,  when  the  Japanese  and  Chinese, 
being  Asiatic  races,  were  dealt  with  in  a  different 
manner  from  other  races.  The  organization  was 
eflfected  to  protect  the  "rights"  of  the  Japanese. 
When  the  crisis  due  to  the  fear  of  bubonic  plague 
ended,  the  Japanese  organization  was  continued  in 
existence,  because  of  the  strong  anti-Japanese  move- 
ment which  had  sprxmg  up  in  San  Francisco.  Upon 
the  renewal  of  this  agitation  in  1905  the  association 
was  reorganized  and  extended  its  activity  to  the 
entire  state  of  California.  Local  associations  were 
soon  organized  in  no  fewer  than  thirty-three  different 
places.  The  general  nature  of  the  association  is 
indicated  by  these  details  relating  to  its  organization 
and  reorganization.  Its  objects,  as  set  forth  in  its 
constitution,  are:  (1)  to  elevate  the  character  of  the 
Japanese  immigrants;    (2)  to  promote  association 

'  H.  A.  Millis,  The  Japanese  Problem  in  the  United  States,  p.  249. 
169 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


between  Japanese  and  Americans;  (3)  to  promote 
commerce,  agriculture,  and  other  industries;  and  (4) 
to  further  Japanese  interests.  The  indefiniteness  of 
this  shows  the  general  and  elastic  character  of  the 
association.  It  interests  itseK  in  whatever  concerns 
the  Japanese.  In  addition  to  this,  the  association 
has  recently  received  recognition  from  the  Japanese 
consulate,  and  has  become  an  administrative  organ 
of  the  consulate  in  issuing  certificates  of  various 
kinds  and  in  related  matters.^ 

110.  In  every  community  with  which  we  are  here 
concerned  the  Japanese  have  been  well  organized 
xmder  so-called  bosses.  At  Rialto  four  camps  of 
Japanese  were  found,  numbering  about  100  in  aU. 
At  Highgrove  there  were  110  under  one  boss.  At 
Riverside  there  were  some  700  Japanese  xmder  7 
bosses,  one  of  them  controlling  160,  another  174 
men,  at  the  time  of  the  agent's  visit.  At  Redlands 
there  were  175  Japanese  in  four  camps.  They  were 
similarly  organized  at  Colton  and  varioiis  other 
places. 

The  camps  of  Japanese  are  assembled  by  the  boss 
or  contractor  from  Los  Angeles's  lodging  houses, 
Fresno,  and  other  places  where  work  is  slack,  and 
are  made  available  for  any  kind  of  work  on  the  most 
convenient  terms.  The  oflBces  are  provided  vdth. 
telephones,  by  means  of  which  orders  are  taken. 
Each  day  the  required  number  of  men  is  sent  out 
to  fill  such  orders  as  were  received  the  night  before. 
The  ranch  owner  (and  sometimes  packer)  pays  the 
contractor  for  the  work  done  and  is  not  put  to  the 
inconvenience  of  paying  each  man  employed  as  the 
work  is  completed  or  his  employment  ends.  In  some 
cases  the  employer  receives  at  the  end  of  the  month 

^  Refort  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  xxiii,  p.  220. 
170 


THE  IMMIGRAJsfT  COMMUNITY 


a  statement  not  unlike  that  submitted  by  a  grocer 
or  butcher. 

This  organization  is  very  convenient  for  the 
small  rancher,  whose  need  for  men  varies  greatly 
from  week  to  week  or  even  from  day  to  day,  and  in 
the  absence  of  which  he  must  go  to  a  village  or  else- 
where to  hire  the  number  of  men  required.  It  goes 
far  in  explaining  the  real  preference  of  the  small 
rancher  or  packer  in  many  communities  for  Japanese 
laborers. 

Another  advantage  in  employing  Japanese  is 
that  the  majority  of  the  pickers  of  that  race  own 
bicycles,  so  that  they  can  easily  reach  work  at  a 
distance  from  their  camps  and  can  be  transferred 
from  one  grove  to  another  at  a  distance  with  little 
loss  of  time.  The  agent  of  the  commission  met 
several  gangs  of  about  fifty  Japanese,  all  riding 
bicycles,  in  process  of  transfer  from  one  place  to 
another  a  mile  or  more  away.  Very  few  white  pickers 
own  bicycles,  and  so  must  walk  to  work  or  be  provided 
with  transportation.^ 

In  the  cities  of  the  Pacific  Coast  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Japanese  communities  is  much 
like  that  of  an  American  community,  as  is 
indicated  by  document  111,  showing  the 
organization  of  business  in  Seattle,  and  the 
map  showing  the  location  of  business  and 
residence  quarters  in  San  Francisco.  (Map 
5,  on  p.  172.) 

111.  (1)  Forty  public  and  social  institutions  (e.g., 
Japanese  Commercial  Union,  Tea  Dealers  Union, 


Report  of  the  U.  S.  Immigratwn  Commission,  vol.  xjdv,  p.  226. 
171 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


12  Prefectural  Societies) ;  (2)  14  schools  and  religious 
organizations;  (3)  13  newspapers  and  magazines-, 
(4)  5  banks;   (5)  5  shipping  corporations;    (6)  40 


LYON   ST, 


Map  5. — Location  of  Japanese  Business  in  San  Feancisoo 


trading  companies;  (7)  6  book  dealers  and  printing 
houses;  (8)  12  physicians  and  1  hospital;  (9)  8 
dentists;   (10)  11  midwives;   (11)  6  masseurs;  (12) 

10  drug  stores;  (13)  18  contracting  and  commission 

172 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


agencies;  (14)  9  interpreting  insurance  and  general 
agencies;  (15)  13  provision  dealers;  (16)  12  dealers 
in  watches  and  phonographs;  (17)  9  photograph, 
sign,  artists'  and  sculptors'  studios;  (18)  5  manu- 
facturers; (19)  22  general  merchandise  stores;  (20) 
7  ten-cent  stores;  (21)  31  tailors  and  dressmakers; 
(22)  138  hotels;  (23)  4  moving  picture  theaters; 
(24)  40  grocers;  (25)  33  fruit  dealers;  (26)  52 
restaurants;  (27)  22  shoe  stores;  (28)  5  furniture 
stores;  (29)  24  express  and  taxi  offices;  (30)  74 
barbers,  etc.^  , 

The  map  on  page  174  shows  the  num- 
ber and  location  of  the  Japanese  cultural 
institutions  in  San  Francisco.  The  latter 
include  27  provincial  societies,  4  Buddhist 
churches,  2  consulates,  4  branches  of  the 
Japanese  association,  1  manufacturers'  asso- 
ciation, 4  associations  of  business  propri- 
etors, 3  associations  of  agriculturists,  16 
trade  unions,  3  associations  of  professional 
men,  18  schools,  8  clubs,  7  newspapers, 
and  the  following  branches  of  American 
organizations:  11  religious  organizations, 
1  boy  scouts,  2  women's  patriotic  societies.^ 

The  thrift,  cleanliness,  quickness,  sobriety, 
industry,  adaptability,  eagerness  to  learn, 
of  the  Japanese  are  everywhere  recognized. 

112.  In  all  cities  of  the  West  with  more  than  a 
few  hundred  Japanese,  there  are  schools  the  primary 

1  From  the  Japanese  Directory  of  Seattle,  Washington. 
^  J a'panese- American  Directory  of  San  Francisco. 

173 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


object  of  which  is  to  teach  adult  Japanese  the  English 
language.  The  number  of  these  institutions  and  the 
many  Japanese  who  attended  them  at  an  earher 


Map  6. — Oeganizations  in  the  Japanese  Commtjnitt  in 
San  Francisco 


time  when  many  immigrants  were  arri\nng,  are  the 
best  evidence  of  the  ambition  and  eagerness  of  the 
members  of  this  race  to  learn  Western  ci\'ilization. 
No  adult  immigrants  in  the  West,  unless  it  is  the 

174 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


Hebrews,  show  as  great  desire  to  learn  the  English 
language.' 

113.    Mr.    came  to  this  country  eleven 

years  ago.  Nine  years  ago  he  purchased  a  farm 
and  was  joined  by  his  wife  and  two  small  daughters. 
He  now  owns  a  walnut  and  fig  ranch  of  thirty-six 
acres,  which  was  bearing  when  he  purchased  it,  and 
leases  a  ^^neyard  besides.  He  occupies  a  cottage 
of  five  rooms;  the  house  is  in  good  repair,  and  it  and 
the  premises  are  well  kept.  The  floors  are  well 
carpeted  and  as  a  part  of  the  furnishings  of  the 
li\4ng  room  are  four  leather-seated  oak  chairs  and  a 
few  well-framed  lithographed  pictures — all  American. 
In  the  back  parlor  is  a  piano,  and  among  the  con- 
veniences in  the  kitchen  is  found  a  standard  washing 
machine.  The  two  daughters  had  just  begun  to  take 
music  lessons  from  an  American  teacher.  One  of  the 
girls  was  in  the  eighth  grade,  the  other  in  the  sixth. 
Both  are  thoroughly  American  in  every  respect  save 
that  they  are  more  gracious  and  more  pohte  than 
the  average  native  child.  Their  Americanism  had 
extended  even  to  insisting  upon  having  American 
dolls  with  blond  hair  and  blue  eyes.^ 

The  eflBciency  of  the  Japanese  is  directly 
connected  with  the  type  of  organization  at 
home.  We  have  pointed  out  that  they  had 
developed  the  principle  of  allegiance  to  an 
extraordinary  and  even  fantastic  degree. 
In  the  feudal  period,  for  example,  men  com- 
mitted suicide  when  the  fortunes  of  their 
political  leaders  fell,  and  at  one  time  this 

*  Report  of  U  S-  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  xxiii,  p.  153. 

*  H.  A.  Millis,  The  Japanese  Problem  in  the  United  States,  p.  195. 

175 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


practice  became  so  prevalent  that  tne  govern- 
ment could  counteract  it  only  by  decreeing 
that  the  wife  and  children  of  a  man  commit- 
ting harakiri  should  be  crucified.  In  this  con- 
nection was  developed  that  subordination  of 
the  individual  to  authority  and  that  capacity 
for  organized  action  which  still  distinguishes 
the  Japanese,  particularly  in  war.  At  the 
same  time  the  treachery  developed  toward 
enemies  in  their  local  wars  was  as  extreme  as 
the  allegiance  within  the  group.  There  are 
many  incidents  in  the  wars  between  the 
Japanese  clans  which  for  treachery  read  like 
chapters  from  the  life  of  Csesar  Borgia.^ 

When,  eventually,  the  isolation  of  the 
Japanese  was  broken  down  and  they  entered 
into  commercial  relations  with  the  larger 
world,  they  showed  the  same  bad  faith  and 
treachery  in  foreign  business  that  they  had 
used  toward  their  domestic  enemies.  If, 
for  example,  a  cargo  of  pig  iron  was  ordered 
from  England  by  a  Japanese  firm  and  the 
price  of  pig  iron  declined  before  the  boat 
landed,  the  firm  refused  to  accept  the  ship- 
ment. They  had  had  none  of  that  trading 
experience  which  makes  the  Chinese  so 
notable  for  business  integrity. 

The  Japanese  displayed  this  same  attitude 
in  their  first  American  contacts: 

1  See,  e.g.,  Murdock  and  Yamagata,  A  History  of  Japan. 
176 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


114.  The  Chinese  are  entirely  honest  in  all  con- 
tractual relations.  The  confidence  in  them  is  so 
great  that  they  usually  pay  no  rent  until  the  crops 
are  harvested.  The  fruit-shipping  houses  frequently 
make  loans  to  them  on  their  personal  unsecured 
notes.  They  do  not  abandon  their  leases.  The 
standing  of  the  Japanese,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
much  lower.  They  are  usually  required  to  pay  a 
part  of  the  cash  rent  in  advance,  the  loans  made 
by  fruit  shippers  are  secured  by  mortgages  on  the 
crops,  and  the  loans  are  limited  in  amount  to  the 
value  of  the  work  done.  In  rather  numerous  cases 
they  have  abandoned  their  leases,  with  the  result 
that  in  some  instances  there  are  two  or  more  out- 
standing leases  for  the  same  land  covering  the  same 
period,  the  land  being  leased  to  new  parties  as 
abandoned  by  others. 

There  is  widespread  complaint  that  the  Japanese 
are  unsatisfactory  in  other  respects.  It  is  commonly 
said  that  they  neglect  the  orchards  and  teams 
furnished  them  and  that  farms  leased  to  them  are 
permitted  to  deteriorate  rapidly.  That  there  is 
some  foundation  for  these  complaints  is  shown  by 
the  very  general  preference  shown  for  Chinese  and 
the  fact  that  leases  are  made  to  them  for  less  rent 
than  required  of  Japanese.^ 

115.  The  Mexicans  were  employed  in  thinning 
along  with  the  Japanese,  and  worked  on  the  same 
wage  basis  of  so  many  cents  per  1,000  feet,  the 
rate  varying  according  to  the  difficulty  of  the  work. 
At  first  the  Mexicans  worked  carefully  and  were 
content  to  make  $1.50  a  day.  The  Japanese,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  able,  by  much  less  careful 
work,  to  make  from  $2.50  to  $3  per  day  under 


Report  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  rxiv,  p.  428. 
177 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


advantageous  conditions.  The  favor  with  which  the 
growers  naturally  regarded  the  Mexicans  alarmed 
the  Japanese.  Their  leaders  accordingly  went  to 
the  Mexicans,  it  is  said,  and  told  them  that  they 
were  foolish  to  be  so  careful  with  their  work,  pointing 
out  the  fact  that  they  were  making  only  $1.50  a 
day,  while  the  Japanese  "boys"  were  making  twice 
as  much.  The  Mexicans  accepted  the  suggestion 
and  are  now  regarded  in  this  community  with  as 
little  favor  as  the  Japanese.^ 

116.  The  question  as  to  whether  a  contract  shall 
be  kept  or  broken  is  apparently,  in  these  cases,  a 
commercial  one,  the  answer  depending  upon  the 
amount  of  money  involved.  If  the  contract  prices, 
less  advances  already  made  by  the  growers,  is  greater 
than  the  expense  of  completing  the  work  the  contract 
will  be  fulfilled;  if  it  is  less,  the  contract  will  be 
broken.  One  instance  is  reported  where  a  bond  was 
required  from  the  contractor  for  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  his  agreement.^ 

But  precisely  because  of  their  historical 
traits  of  allegiance  and  organization  the 
Japanese  are  capable  of  transforming  their 
lives  and  practices  more  rapidly  than  any 
other  immigrant  group,  and  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Japanese  Association  they  are 
acquiring  a  reputation  for  business  integrity. 
Because  of  their  historical  trait  of  allegiance 
also  they  are  inclined  to  make  more  far- 
going  concessions  than  any  other  group  in 

1  Report  of  the  U.  S.  Immigration  Commission,  vol.  xxiv,  p.  106. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  108. 

178 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


order  to  overcome  American  prejudice  and 
secure  status  here.  Like  other  immigrants, 
they  had  the  very  natural  practice  of  send- 
ing home  for  wives  (called  "picture  brides"), 
but  in  response  to  American  sentiment  they 
have  abandoned  this  practice.  They  have 
even  gone  so  far  as  to  undertake  to  limit 
their  efficiency  here  in  order  not  to  provoke 
the  resentment  of  Americans: 

117.  It  is  the  sense  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  Japanese  Association  that  the  so-called  "picture 
marriage"  which  has  been  practiced  among  certain 
classes  of  Japanese  residing  in  this  coimtry  should 
be  abolished  because  it  is  not  only  in  contravention 
of  the  accepted  American  conception  of  marriage, 
but  is  also  out  of  harmony  with  the  growing  ideals 
of  the  Japanese  themselves.  With  this  beUef  in 
mind  the  Board  of  Directors  will  make  the  utmost 
efforts  to  carry  out  this  resolution.  .  . 

118.  ...  The  majority  of  these  Japanese  [criti- 
cized for  working  long  hours]  lacked  educational 
opportimities  at  home.  Recognizing  this,  it  impels 
them  to  work  very  hard  so  that  they  can  give  their 
children  a  chance  to  get  education.  It  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  the  Japanese  will  do  anything  to  get  an 
education  or  to  enable  their  children  to  obtain  it.  .  .  . 
We  are  advising  them,  as  best  we  know  how,  not  to 
work  so  hard  as  to  cause  their  neighbors  to  criticize 
them,  and  to  create  some  leisure  for  self-development. 
At  the  same  time,  it  appears  rather  strange  even  to 

^  Statement  issued  (at  San  Francisco)  October  28,  1919. 
179 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


us  that  the  Americans  should  complain  of  Japanese 
industry.  .  . 

While  these  opportunistic  concessions  are 
not  to  be  praised,  they  nevertheless  indicate 
that  the  Japanese  are  making  extraordinary 
efforts  to  be  assimilated.  They  are  not 
citizens,  but  their  children  are  and  they 
wish  them  to  be.  They  are  anxious  to 
break  up  their  own  colonies,  to  engage  in 
all  sorts  of  occupations,  to  acquire  American 
manners,  and  to  get  education — all  with 
the  motive  of  adapting  themselves  to  this 
country.  Whether  we  like  them  or  not, 
no  other  foreign-language  group  is  so  com- 
pletely and  intelligently  organized  to  control 
its  members,  and  no  other  group  has  at  all 
equaled  them  in  the  work  of  accommodating 
themselves  to  alien  conditions. 


THE  MEXICANS 

There  is  an  undetermined  quantity  of  immi- 
gration from  Mexico  to  the  United  States. 
The  total  Mexican  population  within  our 
borders  may  be  as  much  as  600,000,^  and 
contains  two  elements: 

(1)  The  old  colonists  in  New  Mexico, 

*  Address  of  the  Japanese  Association  of  America  to  President 
Wilson  (mimeographed  copy,  undated),  p.  21. 

*  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor,  Bulletin  78,  p.  520. 

180 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


southern  California,  and  Texas,  representing 
the  population  settled  there  before  the 
Americans  arrived.  These  retain  their  orig- 
inal culture  and  are  still  powerful  in  politics. 
The  present  governor  at  New  Mexico  is  of 
Spanish-American  descent. 

(2)  The  immigrant  labor  coming  in  at 
present.  About  50,000  Mexicans  come 
northward  annually,  and  perhaps  20,000  of 
these  remain.  There  are  Mexican  colonies 
of  recent  origin  in  Austin,  San  Antonio,  and 
Los  Angeles.  Documents  119  and  120  are 
characterizations  of  this  element,  by  a  track- 
master  who  has  worked  various  kinds  of 
labor  in  southern  Kansas  and  by  a  railroad 
official,  respectively: 

119.  Mexicans  are  better  than  Greeks  or  Italians, 
and  next  to  the  American  hobo.  They  must  be  well 
fed,  and  want  fresh  beef  and  mutton,  but  don't  eat 
so  much  pork.  They  don't  have  feuds  and  disorders 
like  the  Italians,  who  are  always  fighting  unless  the 
whole  gang  is  from  the  same  town  in  Italy.  We  send 
a  man  every  spring  to  the  Rio  Grande  to  get  our  men 
for  the  summer.  We  have  to  keep  our  engagements 
with  them  or  we  can't  get  any  men  the  next  year. 
Though  they  are  used  to  low  pay  at  home,  they 
want  as  much  as  anybody  when  they  get  to  this 
country.^ 

120.  We  have  worked  Mexicans  out  of  El  Paso 
for  several  years,  and  since  1903  have  substituted 


1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor,  Bulletin  78,  p.  477. 
13  181 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


them  for  Italians,  who  were  disorderly,  and  for  negroes 
in  northern  Texas,  nearly  to  Texarkana.  They  suit 
us  better  than  any  other  immigrant  labor  we  can  get. 
They  are  better  than  negroes  at  ballasting,  laying 
ties,  and  ordinary  trackwork;  but  the  negroes  can 
beat  them  laying  rails,  and  will  work  better  long 
hours  or  at  rush  jobs,  as  in  case  of  washouts  or  getting 
a  track  around  a  wreck.  Our  chief  diflBculties  are 
due  to  ignorance  of  the  language  and  to  the  rough 
ways  of  our  foremen,  who  sometimes  frighten  the 
Mexicans  so  they  won't  work.  Mexicans  are  not 
very  regular,  and  we  have  to  carry  about  50  men  on 
a  payroll  to  be  sure  of  30  to  35  men  working  every 
day.i 

The  Mexicans  are  the  least  organized  of 
all  the  groups.  At  the  same  time  they  show 
an  easy  adaptability  to  American  habits 
and  a  surprising  interest  in  education: 

121.  If  Mexicans  are  an  inferior  people  how  is  it 
that  thousands  of  them  are  leaving  their  coimtiy 
where  the  booze  flows  freely  and  coming  to  a  foreign 
country  where  it  flows  not  at  all?  Isn't  it  a  sign  that 
the  Mexican  wants  a  chance  to  prosper  where  pros- 
perity is  for  all?  .  .  .  They  come  to  Texas,  to 
Arizona,  New  Mexico,  and  California;  they  work, 
they  buy  red  and  blue  clothes,  they  eat,  they  smoke, 
they  drink  coffee  and  tea,  and  chew  ice-cream  cones, 
they  invest  in  large  white  hats,  nickel  cigars,  and 
other  imwonted  luxuries.  In  short,  they  emerge 
promptly  on  a  higher  plane  of  living  than  they  ever 
before  experienced.    Furthermore,  they  obey  the 

1  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor,  Bulletin  78,  p.  477. 

182 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


laws,  respect  authority,  and  prosper  according  to 
their  capacity.^ 

122.  .  .  .  Since  childhood,  I  have  always  had 
a  peculiar  affection  and  a  profound  admiration  for 
those  who  impart  instruction — those  who,  by  shaping 
the  intelligence,  brighten  up  the  future,  and  allow  a 
clear  background  for  life's  struggle;  but  since  I  have 
become  a  mother  I  realize  the  magnitude  of  so  difficult 
a  task,  and  even  more  than  ever  hold  these  privileged 
ones  in  love  and  veneration.  With  such  a  concept, 
is  it  any  wonder  that  I  feel  moved,  that  I  admire, 
that  I  hold  to-day  more  than  ever,  unlimited  grati- 
tude toward  this  blessed  institution  in  which  I  receive, 
in  company  with  many  other  mothers  and  young 
women,  the  incalculable  benefit  of  its  instruction  to 
us.''  By  this  instruction  we  are  allowed  to  take 
another  step  toward  progress  and  an  open  future 
for  ourselves  and  our  children.  Where  can  we  find 
wise  counsel  in  perfecting  our  intelligence  so  that  we 
may  be  able  to  develop  and  cultivate  that  of  our 
beloved  children,  and  how  else  can  we  discover  a 
worthy  and  honorable  means  of  aiding  and  advising 
our  families  when  necessary? 

I  do  not  know  how  to  express  the  thousand  thoughts 
which  crowd  my  mind  and  echo  from  the  bottom  of 
my  heart!  Words  fail  me — this  subject  which  con- 
cerns me  is  so  great,  so  beautiful  and  so  sublime — 
knowledge!  a  magic  word  which,  with  its  few 
letters,  embraces  a  world  of  happiness;  a  glorious 
word  which,  as  "Let  there  be  light"  to  the  uncreated, 
scatters  the  shadows  of  this  horrible  darkness  which 


'  Dallas  News,  quoted  by  Vera  L.  Sturges,  "The  Progress  of 
Adjustment  in  Mexican  and  United  States  Life";  a  paper  read  at 
the  National  Conference  of  Social  Workers,  1920  (manuscript). 

183 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


abandons  us  without  a  guide  on  the  edge  of  a  prec- 
ipice. .  . 

In  transmitting  the  address  of  which 
document  122  is  an  extract,  the  secretary 
for  non  -  English  -  speaking  women,  South- 
western Field  Committee  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A., 
says: 

123.  These  sentiments  are  quite  typical  for  hun- 
dreds of  Mexican  women  in  Texas.  Now  and  then 
our  workers  have  to  win  the  support  of  their  husbands, 
but  for  the  most  part  the  men  are  eager  to  have  their 
wives  study.  We  do  not  use  our  efforts  on  the  very 
poor  peon-class  women,  unless  they  come  to  us  or 
stay  by  the  things  we  start.  The  middle  class  is 
very  much  more  worth  while,  and  Mexico's  greatest 
need  is  the  development  of  this  class  as  rapidly  as 
possible.  The  aristocrats  are  most  in  need  of  social- 
izing, but,  as  with  the  peon  class,  the  effort  spent  is 
too  great,  considering  the  scarcity  of  qualified  workers, 
unless  they  come  fairly  easily.  Our  hands  are  full 
helping  those  who  crave — we  simply  cannot  keep  up 
with  the  demand  for  English,  American  cookery, 
home  nursing,  etc.^ 

There  is  in  the  state  of  New  Mexico  a 
Mexican  community  about  three  hundred 
years  old,  of  peculiar  interest  to  our  study 
because  it  shows  how  long  an  alien  group 

'  Talk  by  Senora  Maria  Teresa  Palafox  de  Pina  in  the  Inter- 
national Institute,  Laredo,  Texas,  February  5,  1920,  at  a  party 
in  honor  of  the  arrival  of  the  director  of  the  institute. 

*  Letter  from  Vera  L.  Sturges. 

184 


THE  II^IMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


may  remain  on  American  soil  without  change 
or  improvement  if  it  brings  a  low  level  of 
culture,  no  leaders,  no  institutions  for  pre- 
serving and  developing  its  characteristic 
culture  or  appropriating  the  surrounding 
American  culture,  no  channels  of  communi- 
cation with  the  culture  of  the  mother  country, 
which  in  this  case  is  also  low.  These  con- 
ditions and  a  particular  geographic  and 
psychic  isolation  characterize  the  Spanish- 
Americans  of  New  Mexico. 

We  have  selected  the  county  of  Taos  and 
the  towns  of  San  Juan  and  Chamita  for 
special  investigation. 

124.  In  New  Mexico  the  Mexican  is  less  indus- 
trious and  less  thrifty  than  the  Indian.  Every  self- 
respecting  Indian  has  good  clothes  put  away  which 
he  can  don  on  occasion,  but  the  Mexican,  if  he  has 
good  clothes,  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  wear 
them.  Both  gamble,  but  the  Mexican  far  more  than 
the  Indian.  Of  the  two,  the  Indian  is  more  likely 
to  have  a  bank  account.  The  Indian  is  less  likely 
to  run  in  debt  and  the  storekeeper,  who  has  been 
here  fifty  years,  says  he  has  never  lost  an  account 
with  an  Indian,  even  though  he  has  had  to  wait  many 
years,  but  he  cannot  trust  a  Mexican  very  far.  A 
Mexican  is  disposed  to  consider  that  an  account 
liquidates  itself  by  long  standing.  .  . 

125.  About  20  per  cent  of  the  Mexicans  at  Cha- 
mita can  read  their  own  language.    Less  than  5 

*  Mary  Austin,  The  Indiari'Mexican  Settlements  of  San  Juan  and 
Chamita  (manuscript). 

185 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


per  cent  can  read  or  speak  English  (in  other  districts 
the  percentage  is  much  higher,  in  some  lower).  They 
have  no  knowledge  of  politics  outside  their  own 
locality  and  have  strong  Mexican  sympathies.  They 
are  inordinately  ignorant  and  superstitious  about 
common  things.  Though  less  prejudiced  than  Indians, 
they  are  even  less  provided  with  the  means  of  pro- 
duction and  add  nothing  to  the  country's  wealth. 
The  Uterary  and  musical  instincts  are  strong  in  them, 
but  so  little  known  to  the  public  that  I  can  name  but 
one  collection  of  their  songs,  half  a  dozen,  translated 
and  pubhshed  by  Charles  Lummis  in  The  Land  of 
Poco  Tiempo.  Naturally  handicraftsmen,  all  their 
crafts  are  in  abeyance.^ 

126.  Of  the  13,000  present  population  of  Taos 
County,  it  is  estimated  that  10,000  spjeak  Spanish  by 
preference.  There  is  one  county  high  school  in  Taos 
County  with  nineteen  pupils  enrolled.  There  are 
forty-four  school  districts,  employing  eighty-three 
teachers.  The  names  of  all  these  teachers  except 
twelve  are  Spanish.  .  .  .  Only  four  of  the  twelve 
are,  to  my  personal  knowledge,  without  any  Spanish 
strain,  and  two  of  these  four  are  Sisters  of  the  Order 
of  Loretto — Sister  May  McGinnes,  and  Sister  Ann 
Gartin  (French).  .  .  . 

None  of  the  public  schools  in  Taos  County  have 
libraries.  Aside  from  the  books  on  the  teacher's 
desk,  there  is  not  a  book  available  to  school  children 
in  the  whole  county.  There  are  no  town  libraries, 
and  it  is  possible  to  travel  the  whole  day  in  some 
districts,  visiting  every  house  en  route,  and  not  find 
any  book  of  any  description  other  than  a  mail-order 
catalogue  or  an  occasional  Spanish  prayer  book.  .  .  . 

'  Mary  Austin,  The  Indian-Mexicaa  SetUemenis  of  San  Juan  and 
Ckamita  (manuscript). 

186 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


The  Mexican  is  not  really  an  agriculturist,  but  a 
handicraftsman.  He  is  patient  in  craft  and  a  shrewd 
and  ready  trader  in  things.  But  he  has  never  learned 
to  manage  money.  .  .  .  The  chief  economic  reasons 
for  the  discontinuance  of  the  handicrafts  among 
them  is  their  inability  to  take  the  measure  of  their 
work  in  money.  Curio  dealers  and  others  lie  in  wait 
to  purchase  their  beautiful  things  at  the  moment  of 
their  greatest  need.  They  have  no  way  of  finding 
out  what  these  hand-made  things  are  worth.  All  they 
know  is  that  the  Americans  give  them  less  for  the 
things  than  they  can  live  on.  They  begin  to  feel 
that  these  things  are  of  no  value  because  the  Amer- 
icans always  cheapened  them  to  the  utmost.  .  .  . 
That  is  one  reason  why  certain  of  their  old  crafts 
survive  only  among  the  convicts.  I  have  seen  a 
convict  take  half  a  silver  dollar  and  spend  three  or 
foiu"  hoiu-s  working  it  into  a  bracelet  such  as  would 
sell  at  Tiffany's  for  three  or  four  dollars,  and  then 
some  passing  tourist  will  beat  the  convict  down  to 
selling  his  work  for  sixty  or  seventy  cents.  But  a 
convict's  time  is  not  worth  anything.  I  have  seen 
some  American  who  has  "spotted"  a  blanket,  or  a 
beautiful  old  hand-carved  chest,  wait  until  sickness 
or  want  forces  its  sale  for  less  than  the  purchaser 
could  buy  a  "store"  blanket  or  new  lumber  to  make 
another  chest.  Then  the  Americans  rail  against 
the  shiftlessness  of  the  Mexican.  .  .  . 

One  of  the  reasons  why  few  Mexicans  grow  rich  is 
the  ineradicable  spirit  of  communism.  If  a  man  kills 
a  sheep  and  his  neighbor  has  no  sheep  to  kill,  still 
the  neighbor  has  a  piece  of  mutton.  If  a  man  knows 
a  good  wild  pasture,  or  a  woman  a  nice  thicket  of 
wild  plums,  they  tell  the  others.  The  idea  of  per- 
sonal advantage  is  of  very  httle  effect  among  them. 

187 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


In  the  old  days,  if  a  Mexican  found  a  silver  mine,  all 
his  friends  went  along  and  dug  out  a  little  bag  of  ore 
apiece.  This  sort  of  communism  is  now  principally 
confined  to  the  family.  There  is  scarcely  such  a 
thing  as  a  rich  relation,  because  the  thrifty  relation 
seldom  has  enough,  after  dividing  with  the  other 
members,  to  be  called  rich.  This  economic  interest 
probably  has  something  to  do  with  the  importance 
attached  to  kinship,  and  particularly  to  the  parental 
relationship.  There  is  no  doubt  that  family  claims 
prevent  private  ambition.  Many  Mexican  men 
have  told  me  this.  They  wished  to  go  to  school,  to 
go  away  into  other  towns,  to  big  cities  or  more  pros- 
perous places  to  live,  but  they  have  yielded  to  the 
plea  of  their  parents,  especially  of  the  mother,  to 
keep  the  family  intact.  .  .  . 

The  great  lack  in  the  life  of  the  Spanish-speaking 
New  Mexican  is  imaginative  literature.  During  the 
Spanish  pioneer  period  this  lack  was  supplied  partly 
by  the  last  wash  of  that  wave  of  creative  literature 
which  was  sweeping  through  Spain  at  the  time, 
Calderon,  Lope  de  Vega,  and  the  great  Spanish 
romanticists.  It  was  supplied  in  part  by  the  dra- 
matic and  stimulating  history  of  their  own  achieve- 
ment in  New  Spain.  There  are  traces,  too,  in  the 
folklore  of  New  Mexico,  of  the  rich,  and  at  that  time 
unsubmerged,  field  of  native  Mexican  literature. 
By  the  time  of  the  American  occupation  all  these 
streams  of  imaginative  life  had  been  attenuated,  if 
not  actually  dried  up,  and  nothing  has  been  done  since 
to  remedy  the  situation. 

The  County  Superintendent  of  Schools  told  me 
that  50  per  cent  of  the  adult  Spanish-speaking  popu- 
lation of  New  Mexico  ought,  in  view  of  the  history 
of  public  school  education  in  this  locality,  to  be  able 

188 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


to  read  the  local  Spanish  newspaper.  I  hardly  think 
this  is  actually  the  case.  I  have  seen  groups  of  men 
listening  to  one  of  their  number  reading  the  paper 
aloud,  and  the  reader  was  almost  always  a  young 
man.  Of  the  two  Spanish  newspapers  published  in 
Taos,  El  Bulletin  has  a  circulation  of  about  800,  and 
La  Revista  has  about  3,000,  one-third  of  which  are 
out  of  the  county.  La  Revista  was  once  the  leading 
Spanish  newspaper  in  America,  and  still  has  exchanges 
all  over  the  world.  .  .  .  But  even  if  they  could  read 
Spanish,  very  little  reading  matter  finds  its  way  here. 
The  church  is  exceedingly  negligent  in  this  matter. 
A  little  literature  from  Old  Mexico  finds  its  way  here, 
but  is  naturally  expensive.  The  better-class  Spanish 
families  all  read  English  and  have  no  books  in  Spanish 
in  their  houses. 

When  it  comes  to  English  reading  matter  the  case 
is  scarcely  better.  At  this  time  there  is  probably 
not  a  Spanish-speaking  family  which  has  not  some 
member  with  enough  English  to  read  the  newspaper, 
the  mail-order  catalogue,  and  such  practical  neces- 
sities. But  the  number  who  would  be  able  to  read 
and  understand  English  literature  is  even  less  than 
the  number  who  can  appreciate  Spanish  literature. 
A  glance  at  the  school  reading  explains  this.  There 
is  nothing  whatever  in  any  Taos  County  school  to 
read  except  the  textbooks.  There  is  nothing  what- 
ever in  any  textbook  which  would  create  in  any 
child's  mind  the  least  suspicion  that  reading  is  a 
method  of  coming  into  touch  with  its  environment. 
This  country  has  a  beautiful  and  dramatic  mythology, 
but  there  is  only  Greek  mythology  in  the  school 
readers.  On  his  way  to  school  the  child  is  confronted 
with  an  abundant  and  beautiful  flora,  but  the  refer- 
ences in  the  reader  are  to  English  daffodils  and  New 

189 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


England  Mayflowers.  He  reads  about  Bunker  Hill, 
but  nothing  about  Black  Mesa.  Fray  Marcos  and 
De  Vargas  are  not  even  names  to  him.  .  .  . 

The  most  outstanding  conclusion  from  all  this  is 
that  in  our  handling  of  our  Spanish-speaking  popula- 
tion we  have  violated  all  the  fundamentals  of  folk 
growth.  First  of  all,  the  best  thing  in  the  Spanish- 
American  peoples  is  their  pride  of  race.  It  is  the 
one  thing  more  than  another  by  which  we  could  have 
laid  hold  of  and  awakened  their  pride  of  citizenship. 
Instead  of  which  we  needlessly  wounded  and  poisoned 
it  at  every  step.  Through  our  earliest  representa- 
tives we  made  a  mock  of  their  love  of  ritual,  of  dignity 
and  ceremony  in  personal  relations.  "Americans," 
said  Don  Amado  Chaves  to  me,  "think  dignity  and 
ceremony  belong  only  to  the  rich." 

We  have  ignored  their  racial  contribution  of  fine 
deeds — the  early  history  of  New  Mexico  is  crammed 
with  gallant  and  adventurous  exploits — and  overlaid 
them  with  the  achievements  of  the  Anglo  Saxon 
strain,  thus  destroying  aU  the  power  of  their  past 
over  their  ideals  of  conduct.  And  even  if  it  were 
possible  to  substitute  the  past  of  one  people  for  the 
past  of  another,  we  have  made  an  utterly  inadequate 
attempt  to  do  so,  for  we  have  hardly  so  much  as 
succeeded  in  interesting  them  in  the  facts  of  our 
Anglo-Saxon  past.  It  is  not  a  paradox  to  say  that 
a  people  with  no  past  is  a  people  without  a  future, 
it  is  a  simple  statement  of  fact,  hke  saying  that  a  tree 
with  no  roots  produces  no  fruit.  .  .  . 

Not  the  slightest  attempt  was  ever  made  to  find  a 
market  for  the  sort  of  thing  that  is  being  constantly 
imported  from  Italy  and  Spain.  There  were  no  fairs, 
exhibitions,  prizes,  honors,  none  of  the  things  that 
we  know  very  well  are  the  medium  in  which  artistry 

190 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


flourishes.  And  on  the  other  hand,  there  have  been 
all  sorts  of  mean  trickery  used  to  buy  their  products 
for  less  than  their  worth,  smuggle  them  out  of  the 
country,  and  sell  them  for  many  times  what  they 
cost.  An  American  woman  in  Taos  who  insists  on 
paying  something  like  a  reasonable  price  for  hand- 
made products  is  accused  of  "spoiling"  the  trade 
of  the  other  people. 

That  has  been  one  end  of  the  process.  At  the 
other  end  is  the  destruction  of  the  source  of  art  in 
the  suppression  of  their  native  stock  of  myth  and 
symbol  from  which  their  designs  were  derived.  More 
and  more,  as  I  study  New  Mexican,  Indian,  and 
Spanish  groups,  I  discover  design  to  be  a  language 
of  profound  experience. 

The  way  in  which  certain  beautiful  things  are 
shown  to  be  peculiar  to  certain  localities  or  even  to 
certain  families,  the  way  in  which  these  designs  sink 
out  of  sight  and  reappear  after  generations  in  times 
of  spiritual  distress,  indicates  that  the  things  them- 
selves have  grown  up  out  of  experience  as  an  expres- 
sion of  that  experience,  and  perish  with  it.  .  .  . 

These  people  do  not  need  missionaries.  All  they 
need  is  to  have  the  burden  of  their  isolation  lifted, 
to  have  the  stopped  currents  of  their  imaginative 
life  freed  on  the  one  side  by  giving  them  access  to 
their  own  history  and  traditions,  and  on  the  other 
by  giving  them  markets  for  the  products  of  imagina- 
tion and  industry.^ 

127.  The  organization  known  as  Los  Hermanos 
Penitentes  (The  Penitent  Brotherhood)  is  the  most 
important  society  of  the  Spanish-speaking  popula- 
tion of  the  Southwest,  and  the  only  organization 

*  Mary  Austin,  Social  Survey  of  Taos  County,  State  of  New  Mexico 
(manuscript). 

191 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


discoverable  among  the  Mexican  population  of  San 
Juan.  It  has  some  50,000  members  in  the  state  of 
New  Mexico,  and  spreads  into  Colorado  and  Old 
Mexico.  Although  a  religious  organization,  it  exer- 
cises great  influence  in  politics  and  in  the  social  Ufe 
of  the  communities  where  it  is  found.  .  .  .  [Dis- 
countenanced by  the  CathoUc  Church  in  1896,]  the 
society  continued  to  flourish,  applied  for  and  obtained 
a  charter  from  the  legislature,  which  permitted  it 
to  exist  on  the  same  footing  as  other  secret  organiza- 
tions. As  late  as  thirty  years  ago  it  is  estimated 
that  95  per  cent  of  the  adult  male  population  of 
New  Mexico  belonged  to  it.  .  .  . 

The  avowed  object  of  the  society  is  to  keep  alive 
the  "passion  and  sufferings  of  Our  Lord."  Special 
saints'  days,  the  first  and  second  days  of  May,  and 
funerals  of  brother  members,  are  celebrated  with 
penitential  exercises.  The  whole  of  Lent  is  kept 
with  prayers  and  lashings,  and  Holy  Week  is  cele- 
brated with  all  manner  of  penitential  practices, 
including  crucifixion.  Formerly  the  crucifixion  was 
actual,  and  deaths  as  a  result  were  not  uncommon. 
But  since  1886  it  has  become  the  custom  simply  to 
tie  the  victim  to  the  cross,  instead  of  using  nails. 
And  lately  the  practice  of  using  an  effigy,  life  size, 
has  been  general.  Even  where  the  brother  is  still 
tied  to  the  cross  the  time  has  been  reduced  from 
three  hours  to  about  forty-five  minutes. 

Among  the  penitential  practices  are  the  carrying 
of  heavy  crosses  in  procession,  walking  on  trails 
strewn  with  cactus,  carrying  heads  of  cactus  on  the 
bare  back  or  clasped  to  the  bare  breast,  hugging  a 
post  wrapped  with  cactus,  cutting  the  back  and 
lashing  it  with  braided  whips  of  yucca  fiber.  Peni- 
tential pilgrimages  made  on  hands  and  knees  are 

192 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


also  a  favorite  mode  of  expression.  Formerly  these 
practices  were  all  as  public  as  possible,  but  the 
attitude  of  the  Church  and  unfavorable  comment  in 
the  non-Catholic  press  have  led  to  secrecy.  The 
crucifixions  still  take  place  at  the  prescribed  afternoon 
hour,  but  whipping  is  done  in  the  lodge  or  at  night, 
when  most  of  the  processions  take  place.  .  .  . 

Besides  the  special  services  for  saints'  days,  the 
processions  begin  with  the  first  Friday  in  Lent. 
These  are  whipping  processions,  when  the  heavy 
crosses,  weighing  several  hundred  pounds,  are  dragged 
to  and  from  the  Calvarios  by  men  half  naked  and 
wearing  crowns  of  the  wild-rose  brier.  Every  peni- 
tent is  accompanied  by  a  brother  who  eases  him  to 
the  ground  at  each  one  of  the  fourteen  stations.  But 
when  a  man  staggers  and  faints  he  is  whipped  to  his 
feet.  .  .  .  Aid  is  furnished  to  sick  members  and 
funeral  expenses  are  borne  when  necessary.  .  .  . 
PoHtical  aid  and  legal  aid  in  difficulties  are  also 
rendered,  but  not  openly  or  officially.  Formerly 
the  solidarity  of  the  Penitenies  made  the  society  a 
refuge  for  outlaws  of  every  description,  and  aided  the 
Spanish-speaking  population  to  maintain  its  isolation 
from  the  American  regime.  As  nearly  every  adult 
male  is  a  member,  it  is  natural  that  the  whole  com- 
munity should  be  more  or  less  involved.  .  .  . 
Brotherly  service  in  sickness  and  affliction  is  ren- 
dered, and  the  rules  of  the  order  act  occasionally 
as  a  social  corrective.  ...  A  married  man  was  ex- 
pelled from  the  order  for  misbehavior  with  a  young 
woman.  These  are  offenses  against  the  families  of 
brother  Penitentes.  When  the  offense  is  against 
the  law  of  the  state,  however,  there  seems  still  to 
be  a  disposition  to  regard  the  offender  as  simply 
unfortunate. 

193 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


Commenting  on  the  small  number  of  civil  cases 
in  one  of  the  communities  where  90  per  cent  of  the 
population  was  Spanish-speaking,  I  was  told:  "You 
see,  they  are  all  Penitentes  up  there."  On  inquiry, 
I  learned  that  most  disputes  between  Penitentes 
came  before  the  Hermanos  Mayor  and  that  there  was 
seldom  any  exception  to  his  decisions.  The  follow- 
ing was  a  partial  list  of  the  matters  that  had  com«i 
before  him:  (1)  damages  caused  by  a  cow  in  neigh- 
bor's garden;  (2)  quarrel  about  wood  purchased; 
(3)  several  cases  of  small  debts;  (4)  young  man 
forbidden  to  marry  a  girl  by  her  father  on  account 
of  personal  prejudice,  settled  in  the  yoimg  man's 
favor;  (5)  widower  with  small  children  reproved 
for  neglect  of  them;  (6)  mother  whose  son  was  in 
France  (a  Penitent)  helped  to  get  her  allowance 
which  she  was  too  ignorant  to  apply  for. 

In  spite  of  the  aUen  attitude  toward  the  law,  and 
the  fact  that  that  no  Penitent  on  a  jury  will  convict 
another  Penitent,  there  was  a  large  percentage  of 
voluntary  enlistments  among  them,  and  at  the 
Holy  Week  celebrations  this  year,  in  the  processions, 
were  numbers  of  young  men  in  uniform  with  foreign- 
service  stripes.  .  .  . 

Thus  the  Penitentes,  with  its  religious  fervors,  its 
ritual  and  mystery,  its  friendly  offices  for  the  dead, 
its  annual  processions  and  dramatic  performance  of 
Holy  Week,  has  grown  deep  into  the  life  of  the  people.^ 

There  are  old  and  cultivated  Spanish- 
American  families  in  New  Mexico,  still 
powerful  in  politics  (the  present  Governor 
is  a  Spanish- American),  and  the  state  has 

'  Mary  Austin,  The  Penitentes  ai  Chamita  de  San  Juan 
(manuscript). 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


modern  schools,  industries,  political  admin- 
istration, but  these  institutions  mean  that 
the  country  is  being  settled  by  Americans. 
The  mass  of  the  Mexican  population  remains 
as  little  adapted  to  these  institutions  as  the 
Indians  of  the  state. 

The  whole  situation  shows  what  may 
happen  to  an  immigrant  group  when  it 
neither  participates  in  American  life  nor 
continues  to  draw  its  culture  from  the  mother 
country.  We  shall  notice  later  that  even 
when  an  immigrant  conununity  does  keep 
up  its  cultural  intercourse  with  the  home 
country,  if  it  does  not  participate  in  Amer- 
ican life,  its  level  of  culture  tends  to  fall 
below  the  level  of  culture  of  the  home 
country. 

At  present  the  situation  in  New  Mexico 
is  ripe  for  a  nationalistic  movement,  if  the 
leaders  appear. 

THE  JEWS 

The  Jews  tend  even  more  than  other  immi- 
grant groups  to  settle  in  cities.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  there  are  3,320,000  Jews  in 
America,  and  of  these  1,500,000  are  in  New 
York  City.^  The  accompanying  diagram 
compares  the  number  of  Jews  in  New  York 

'  Jewish  Communal  Register  of  New  York  City  (1917-18),  p.  82 
American  Jewish  Yearbook  (Oppenheim  reprint),  p.  66. 

195 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


with  those  m  other  countries.  If  we  include 
Newark,  New  Rochelle,  and  other  near-by 
towns,  then  within  a  district  equivalent  in 
size  to  thirty  square  miles  will  be  found  fully 
one-half  of  the  Jews  in  the  United  States. 


NEW  YORK  CITY  1,500,000 


IBIH  GERMANY-615.000 
[GREAT  BRITAIN  257,000 
■I  SOUTH  AMERICA-117.000 
|||HOLLAND-106.000 
HjPALESTINE-lOO.OOO 
■FRANCE  too.  000 
^CANADA  75.000 
flTALY  44,000 
ISWlTZERLAND-19.000 


|BELGIUM-15.000 


Diagram  1. — Comparison  of  the  Jewish  Population  of  New 
York  Citt  with  that  of  Other  Couxtries.  (Jewish 
Communal  Register,  1917-18,  Frontispiece.) 
196 


THE  BOaGRANT  COMMUNITY 


128.  No  doubt  this  figure  will  cause  astonishment 
to  many.  One  million  and  a  half  Jews  is  an  extraordi- 
nary community.  The  next  largest  Jewish  com- 
munity in  the  world — that  of  the  city  of  Warsaw — 
is  estimated  to  have  been  between  300,000  and 
330,000  Jews,  about  one-fifth  as  many  as  we  estimate 
for  New  York.  All  of  the  countries  of  western 
Europe,  together  with  the  countries  of  South  America, 
Canada,  and  Palestine  combined,  do  not  have  as 
many  Jews  as  live  in  this  city.  If  we  accept  the 
estimate  of  the  number  of  Jews  in  the  world  as  about 
14,000,000,  one  Jew  out  of  every  ten  resides  in  New 
York.i 

It  costs  the  Jews  of  New  York  $3,120,000 
a  year  to  eat  kosher  meat,  over  and  above 
the  normal  cost  of  meat,^  and  they  spend 
annually  on  Yiddish  newspapers  alone, 
$2,097,453.3 

129.  This  estimated  1,500,000  constitutes  over 
25  per  cent  of  the  whole  population  of  New  York 
City.  This  is  by  far  the  largest  proportionate  group 
among  any  of  the  10  largest  American  cities;  in  the 
9  next  largest  cities,  the  average  proportion  which 
the  Jewish  group  constitutes  of  the  general  popula- 
ion  is  slightly  under  10  per  cent.  In  the  62  remain- 
ing cities  which  have  a  population  over  100,000,  the 
respective  Jewish  populations  average  4.5  per  cent 
of  the  total  group.  For  cities  of  the  second  class 
(those  having  a  population  between  50,000  and 

1  Alexander  M.  Dushkin,  Jetoisk  Communal  Register  (1917-18), 
p.  82. 

^  Jevnsh  Communal  Register,  p.  320. 
3  Ibid.  p.  614. 
14  197 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


100,000)  the  average  proportion  of  Jewish  inhabitants 
is  shown  to  dedine  quite  evenly  as  the  population 
figures  for  the  respective  cities  are  ranged  in  decreas- 
ing order,  from  3.3  per  cent  for  cities  of  from  90,000 
to  100,000  each,  to  2.4  per  cent  for  those  of  from 
50,000  to  60,000  each.  Continuing  this  curve,  the 
average  percentage  of  Jewish  population  in  cities  of 
between  20,000  and  50,000  falls  to  a  trifle  over  2 
per  cent,  in  still  smaller  localities  to  a  little  over 
1  per  cent,  and  in  places  having  less  than  1,000 
inhabitants  to  3^  to  3^  of  1  per  cent.^ 

The  Jews  come  to  this  country  more 
definitely  as  settlers  than  any  other  group, 
but  they  come  from  many  countries :  Russia, 
Rumania,  Poland,  Galicia,  Germany,  Tur- 
key, etc.  Most  of  them  speak  Yiddish  in 
addition  to  the  language  of  the  country  from 
which  they  come  (Russian,  Polish,  Rumanian, 
Hungarian,  and  so  forth),  but  there  are 
various  dialects  of  Yiddish,  and  the  Jews 
from  the  Near  East  do  not  know  Yiddish, 
but  speak  Greek,  Ladino  ( Judseo-Spanish) , 
Turkish,  Arabic,  and  so  forth.  In  their 
religious  ritual  they  may  be  orthodox,  con- 
servative, or  reform.  There  are  among 
them  members  of  the  pietistic,  mystical, 
magical  Chassidic  sect;  and  at  the  other  ex- 
treme are  the  freethinkers.  Consequently 
the  differences  and  mutual  prejudices  between 


*  Renee  Darmstadter,  The  Jewish  Communiiy  in  New  York  City 
(manuscript) . 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


different  groups  of  Jews  may  be  as  great  as 
those  between  members  of  different  nationali- 
ties, and  these  inner  divisions  affect  both  their 
institutional  life  and  their  personal  relations: 

130.  The  Spanish  and  the  Portuguese  Jews  found 
it  difficult  in  the  first  half  of  the  last  century  to  admit 
whole-heartedly  the  German  Jew  to  a  close  kinship  with 
them — a  difficulty  which  the  German  Jews  experi- 
enced almost  half  a  century  later  with  the  Jews  hail- 
ing from  Russia,  and  the  Russian  Jews  in  their  turn 
only  a  decade  later  with  the  Jews  coming  from 
Galicia  and  Rmnania.  Because  of  this  clannishness, 
several  Jewish  communities  sprang  up  practically  side 
by  side  in  New  York  City;  a  Spanish-Portuguese  com- 
mimity,  a  German  community,  a  Russian  commimity, 
an  Oriental  commimity,  and  a  Galician,  a  Himgarian 
and  a  Rumanian  community.  Almost  every  one 
of  these  communities  was  self-sufficient,  with  its 
own  synagogues,  charitable  and  educational  insti- 
tutions, and,  what  was  inevitable,  with  its  own 
politics.  Under  such  conditions,  the  least  untoward 
act,  fancied  or  real,  on  the  part  of  one  group,  led 
inevitably  to  strong  separatistic  tendencies  in  other 
groups.  So,  for  instance,  did  the  ascendancy  of  the 
German  commimity  result  in  the  struggle  of  the 
so-called  Downtown  against  Uptown,  a  struggle 
in  which  the  combatants  were  mainly  Russian  and 
German  Jews.  In  the  same  way  did  the  sense  of 
grievance  which  the  Galician,  Rumanian,  Russian- 
Polish,  and  Bessarabian  Jews  felt  against  the  ascend- 
ancy of  the  Russian  Jewish  community  find  its  outlet 
in  the  formation  of  separate  Verbands.  For  the 
Verbands,  in  spite  of  their  voluble  protestations 
of  good  intentions,  were  invariably  organized  as 

199 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


offensive  and  defensive  alliances,  a  sort  of  Verein  zur 
Abwehr  des  Anti-Galizianerismus  or  Anti-Rumanier- 
ismus,  as  the  case  might  be.  Only  subsequent  con- 
ditions changed  their  original  plans  and  induced  a 
new  course  of  development.* 

131.  The  Levantine  Jews  are  very  much  isolated 
from  the  great  Yiddish-speaking  mass  of  Jews  all 
about  them.  According  to  one  of  their  spokesmen, 
Joseph  Zedalicia,  president  of  the  Federation  of 
Oriental  Jews,  the  Levantine  Jews  "feel  more  dis- 
crimination from  the  other  wings  of  the  Jews  than 
they  do  from  the  non-Jews."  Part  of  the  problem 
is  that  the  Jews  themselves,  especially  those  of  the 
lower  East  Side  communities — at  least  up  until 
recently — did  not  actually  realize  that  these  very 
new  immigrants  were  also  Jewish.  They  looked 
on  these  "Spanioles"  among  them  as  "dagoes." 
Instances  of  street  disturbances  and  neighborhood 
disputes  and  complaints  have  been  numerous.  Some 
years  ago  a  group  of  residents  in  one  section  petitioned 
the  mayor  at  the  time,  Mx.  Gaynor,  to  remove  the 
"Turks"  in  their  midst.  When  they  found  that 
these  people  were  Jews  they  hastened  to  settle  the 
matter  "among  themselves."  ^ 

132.  I  am  a  Galician  Jew  and  .  .  .  God  destined 
me  to  have  a  Russian  [Jewish]  wife  and  it  is  a  mis- 
fortune for  me — not  because  she  feeds  me  with  their 
Russian  dishes,  which  are  not  bad,  but  the  Russian 
company  she  brings  up  to  our  house  is  unbearable  .  .  . 
[detailed  complaint].' 


*  S.  Margoshes,  Jewish  Communal  Register,  p.  1286. 

^  Renee  Darmstadter,  The  Jewish  Community  (manuscript). 

'  Letter  to  Forward,  December  6,  1914.  The  editor  replies 
humoristically,  and  advises  him  to  thank  God  his  wife  i^  not  a 
Rumanian. 

200 


RIVIN6T0N 


.DELANCEY 


BROOME 


GRAND 


HESTER 


ST. 


ST. 


ST. 


ST. 


oo 

□  Q'OSB 

□  988 

ST. 


KEY 

o  UKRAINE 

a  WHITE  RUSSIA 

a  GREAT  RUSSIA 

■  LITHUANIA 

o  RUSSIAN  POLAND 

®  6ALICIA 

•  BUKOWINA 
X  ROUMANIA 
o  TURKEY 

"  ARABIA 

•  GREECE 

ffl  UNKNOWN 


□ 

■  8Q88  OO 


CANAL 


ST. 


Map  7. — Birthplace  of  the  Founders  of  the  Jewish 
Synagogues  in  a  Congested  New  York  District 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


The  preceding  map  indicates  the  Jewish 
synagogues  in  a  section  of  New  York, 
showing  the  wide  diversity  in  origin  of 
their  founders.  Only  the  Jews  themselves 
appreciate  how  profound  are  these  differ- 
ences. While  their  spiritual  life  is  based 
on  the  same  historical  traditions,  the  differ- 
ent groups  have  lived  in  different  ghettos 
as  separate,  self  -  governing  communities, 
suspicious  of  any  intrusion  whatever  into 
their  affairs.  The  group  of  Jewish  leaders 
who  organized  the  Kehillah,  of  which  we 
shall  speak  later,  have  recorded  this  sepa- 
ratist attitude: 

133.  .  .  .  Quite  a  number  of  societies  actually 
succeeded  in  withholding  the  information  from  us. 
The  history  of  this  huge  canvass  is  full  of  episodes 
which  are  of  great  interest  to  the  commimal  student. 
Here  is  a  typical  case.  A  congregation  in  Williams- 
burg is  written  to  for  information.  No  answer. 
It  is  written  to  again,  with  the  same  result.  A 
canvasser  is  detailed  to  the  job.  He  finds  the  beadle 
and  states  his  errand.  This  dignitary  is  noncommittal. 
An  inquiry  for  the  home  address  of  the  president 
eUcits  the  doubtful  information  that  he,  the  beadle, 
does  not  know  it.  The  card  is  then  returned  to  the 
office  with  the  brief  narrative.  A  special  investi- 
gator is  sent.  He  uses  strategy,  si)ends  an  hour  in 
fraternizing  with  the  disgruntled  old  beadle,  treats 
him  to  an  extra-fine  brand  of  tobacco,  and  finally 
obtains  the  address  of  the  president.  This  gentle- 
man is  too  conscientious  to  impart  any  information 

202 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


whatsoever  without  the  consent  of  his  fellow-members. 
After  the  next  meeting  the  information  will  be  forth- 
coming. But  it  does  not.  The  congregation  fears 
a  trap.  You  may  fool  some  people,  but  you  cannot 
fool  them.  The  congregation  is  ultimately  Usted 
among  those  marked  "  no  information  available.  .  .  ."^ 

The  Jew,  like  the  peasant,  first  settled 
here  in  a  colony,  the  ghetto.  This  is  not  a 
new  experience.  Indeed  he  may  have  lived 
in  several  ghettos,  Vilna,  Budapest,  London, 
before  he  makes  his  way  to  America.  We 
call  the  territories  in  which  the  Jews  and 
other  immigrants  first  settle  here  areas  of 
first  settlement.  The  lower  East  Side,  the 
upper  East  Side,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
110th  Street  and  Central  Park,  Brooklyn, 
Brownsville,  East  New  York,  are  such  areas 
for  the  Jews. 

134.  Within  an  area  of  first  settlement  are  foimd 
the  customs  and  institutions  of  the  home  country; 
language  and  social  ritual,  dress  and  food  habits,  the 
familiar  notions  of  neighborly  relations,  the  tradi- 
tional sanctions  in  family  and  personal  conduct. 
Here  are  set  up  in  their  essential  forms  the  patterns 
of  community  and  family  organization  imder  which 
the  individuals  of  the  group  lived  in  their  European 
homes;  the  synagogue  as  it  exists  in  the  towns  of 
the  Pale,  the  primitive  forms  of  burial  and  mutual 
aid  societies,  unmodified  by  the  transplanting  to  a 
new  geographical  environment.    Spiritually,  the  old 

*  Meir  Isaacs,  Jewish  Community  Register,  p.  96. 

203 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


environment  itself  is  transplanted.  The  greater 
number  of  the  synagogue  and  benefit  society  groups, 
among  all  of  the  several  divisions  of  the  Jews  of  the 
East  Side,  are  organized  on  the  basis  of  common 
origins  in  Europe.  The  name  of  such  a  synagogue 
or  aid  society  indicates  that  it  has  been  formed  by  a 
group  of  persons  "who  emigrated  from  the  same 
village  or  city  in  the  Old  World;  its  purpose  and 
organization  is  the  same  as  it  would  be  in  the  home 
village;  coming  together  to  pray,  visiting  the  sick, 
caring  for  the  burial  of  a  member  who  has  died,  etc. 
The  pattern  of  action  is  the  same  as  it  would  be  in 
the  home  village,  and  the  feeUngs  which  keep  it  alive 
are  those  traditional  sentiments  of  neighborly  kin- 
ship and  religious  responsibility  to  which  the  same 
organization  in  Europe  answered.^ 

As  the  Jews  become  more  prosperous  they 
begin  to  move  to  better  quarters  of  the  city, 
and  the  neighborhoods  of  Fourteenth  Street 
and  Second  Avenue,  the  Bronx,  are  areas 
of  second  settlement.  Finally  the  Jew  may 
separate  himself  completely  from  his  original 
colony  and  repudiate  it.  The  contempt  of 
the  ghetto  Jew  for  the  allrightnick  (see 
documents  44  and  81,  pp.  52  and  102),  is 
connected  with  this  movement. 

135.  ...  I  visited  a  friend  of  mine  in  Riverside 
Drive — a  Russian-English  Jew  who  spent  the  last 
few  years  in  Palestine.  We  took  the  bus.  He  .  .  . 
began  to  talk  to  me  in  Jewish  and  in  a  loud  voice.  .  .  . 

'  Renee  Darmstadter,  The  Jewish  Community  of  New  York  CUy 
(manuscript). 

204 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


At  Thirty-fourth  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue  we  changed 
busses.  My  friend  continued  his  loud  conversation 
in  Jewish.  "Please,  do  not  speak  Jewish  around 
here,"  we  heard  a  voice  behind  us.  .  .  .  It  was  the 
transfer  agent  of  the  bus  company.  .  .  .  And  he 
repeats  his  request  in  Jewish  this  time.  "Why?" 
my  friend  asks  him.  "Just  so.  They  won't  have  it." 
"Who  won't  have  it?"  "These  people,"  and  he 
points  to  the  great  crowd  who  daily  pass  this  corner 
in  the  afternoon.  .  .  .  But  they  consist  of  many 
Jews.  .  .  } 

Although  it  has  lost  its  hold  upon  great 
numbers,  the  synagogue,  including  the  activ- 
ities associated  with  it,  remains  the  most 
important  feature  in  the  life  of  the  Jewish 
community  as  a  whole,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  the  newspaper.  The  "syna- 
gogue Jew"  is  passing  away.  He  has  be- 
come a  descriptive  phrase  and  a  literary 
type,  but  the  attitudes  created  by  the  syna- 
gogue remain.  The  character  of  the  Jew  is 
the  joint  production  of  the  hostility  of  the 
Gentile  world  and  the  communal  life  of 
which  the  synagogue  was  the  center.  The 
fact  that  the  Jews  pay  the  amount  men- 
tioned above  for  kosher  meat  is  proof  that 
the  old  attitudes  are  alive. 

136.  The  function  of  the  synagogue  was  not 
limited  to  that  of  defense.    Like  the  moated  mediaeval 

*  P.  Hlrschbein,  "Impressions,"  The  Day  (Yiddish  newspaper), 
January  6,  1917. 

205 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


castles,  which  outwardly  with  their  bastions  and 
moats  have  all  the  appearance  of  fortresses,  but 
which  from  the  inner  courts  present  the  asp)ect  of 
palaces  intended  to  house  and  enrich  a  life  of  peace, 
so  the  synagogue  not  only  protected  the  Jewish  faith 
from  a  hostile  world,  but  was  also  for  the  Jew  a  home 
for  the  development  of  his  strivings  and  ideals.  It 
was  a  house  of  prayer,  a  "beth  tephillah,"  a  house  of 
study,  a  "beth  hd'midrash"  and  a  meeting  house, 
where  communal  undertakings  were  formulated,  and 
where  all  plans  for  the  communal  good  were  discussed 
and  adopted.  The  synagogue  rendered  possible  the 
cultivation  of  the  spiritual  life  in  the  Diaspora,  and 
thus  gave  point  to  the  truth  that  wherever  the  Jewish 
people  went  it  was  accompanied  by  the  "shekhina," 
or  Divine  Presence. 

Establishing  a  synagogue  or  being  affiliated  with 
one  was  not  considered  a  matter  of  option.  It  was 
an  accepted  principle  that  wherever  there  were  ten 
Jews  they  were  in  duty  bound  to  form  themselves 
into  a  congregation,  and  to  carry  on  all  the  customary 
Jewish  commimal  activities.  While  the  Jew  is  in  a 
position  to  discharge  most  of  his  religious  duties  by 
himself,  it  was  realized  that  detachment  from  com- 
munal life  could  not  but  eventually  lead  to  complete 
severance  from  the  faith.  Hence  the  designation  of 
"evil  neighbor"  for  one  who,  though  living  near  a 
synagogue,  kept  aloof  from  it.  That  accepted 
principle  it  was  which,  enforced  by  the  sanction  of 
public  sentiment,  brought  every  Jew  within  the 
influence  of  the  synagogue.^ 

137.  The  total  number  of  permanent  synagogues 
in  Manhattan,  by  actual  count  from  the  list  given 
in  the  Communal  Register  (pp.  544  ff.),  is  597;  the 

1  M.  M.  Kaplan,  Jeicisk  Communal  Register,  p.  117. 

206 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


total  count  for  all  the  boroughs  of  Greater  New  York, 
from  the  same  list,  is  843,  those  of  Manhattan  con- 
stituting, therefore,  about  70  per  cent  of  the  number 
in  the  greater  city. 

The  area  within  which  the  synagogues  in  lower 
Manhattan  are  concentrated  falls  within  the  bounda- 
ries of  three  conjoined  Kehillah  Districts — the 
Tompkins  Square  District  (Dist.  VII  of  the  New 
York  Kehillah),  the  Delancey  District  (Dist.  VIII), 
and  the  East  Broadway  District  (Dist.  IX).  Within 
these  districts  fall  also  the  areas  of  greatest  density 
of  JeTvish  population  [see  Map  No.  7  p.  201].  This 
is  also  the  region  of  greatest  concentration  of  the 
mutual  aid  societies.  Out  of  the  968  organizations 
of  this  character  listed  in  the  Communal  Register, 
823  are  located  in  these  three  districts  of  the  lower 
East  Side.  The  next  largest  number,  83,  belong 
to  the  West  Side  and  Harlem  District.  East  Harlem 
has  28,  Central  Manhattan,  19;  Yorkville,  9.  Only 
7  are  given  for  the  two  districts  of  the  Bronx.  Among 
all  the  districts  the  East  Broadway  District  makes 
second  largest  provision  of  synagogues  — 12.2  per 
10,000  of  population;  the  Delancey  District,  which 
has  the  largest  population,  making  also  largest 
synagogue  provision — i.e.,  15.3  per  10,000  of  poptda- 
tion.* 

138.  The  synagogue  has  lost  hold  on  more  than 
one-half  of  the  largest  Jewish  community  in  the 
world.  The  estimated  Jewish  population  of  this 
city  is  about  1,500,000,  which  is  a  very  conservative 
figure.  But  taking  into  consideration  the  30  per 
cent  who  constitute  the  child  population  up  to  the 

'  Renee  Darmstadter,  The  Jetvish  Community  of  New  York  City 
•(manuscript). 

207 


KEY 

■1  Over  300,000      >Over  2, 1 50 
^  200,000  300.000  1,430-2,150 

100.000-200,000  715-1,430 

^  50,000-100,000  358-715 

^  10,000-50.000  72-358 

S  Below  10,000  Below  72 


Map  8. —  Density  of 
Jewish  Population  ix 

THE  NeiGHBOKHOODS  OF 

Ceirtain  Kehiixah  Di&- 
THicTS  OP  Manhattan. 
(Jewish  Communal 
Registes,  p.  80) 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


age  of  fourteen,  and  allowing  10  per  cent  for  adolescent 
Jewish  girls,  who,  unfortunately,  have  hardly  any 
place  in  the  synagogue,  we  should  expect  at  least 
900,000  seats  to  accommodate  Jewish  worshipers 
on  the  high  holidays,  when  the  maximum  attendance 
is  reached.  We  find,  however,  the  total  seating 
capacity  to  be  381,000.  If  we  add  to  that  the  30,000 
to  35,000  seats  to  be  found  in  the  120  small  synagogues 
not  yet  investigated,  we  see  that  out  of  900,000  Jews 
only  about  415,000  are  synagogue  Jews. 

Secondly,  we  observe  the  remarkable  unevenness 
in  the  per  cent  of  the  population  affiliated  with  the 
synagogues,  when  judged  by  districts.  Whereas  in 
the  Delancey  District  44  per  cent  are  synagogue  Jews, 
in  Bushwick  and  in  Richmond  only  7  per  cent,  in 
West  Queens  only  2  per  cent,  worship  in  synagogues. 
It  is  evident  that  the  density  of  population,  economic 
conditions,  and  length  of  stay  in  this  country  have 
so  rapid  an  eflPect  upon  synagogue  affiliation  that 
we  cannot  but  infer  that  the  synagogue  owes  its 
existence  more  to  the  momentum  of  the  past  than 
to  any  new  forces  created  in  this  country  that  make 
for  its  conservation  and  development.^ 

In  1908  the  more  self-conscious  Jews  of 
New  York,  recognizing  that  the  old  com- 
munity agencies  were  no  longer  adequate 
to  control  the  moral  life  of  the  vast  Jewish 
population,  that  the  various  Jewish  com- 
munities and  agencies  in  New  York  did  not 
know  one  another  and  were  not  known  by 


I  M.  M.  Kaplan,  Jevdsh  Communal  Register,  p.  120. 

209 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


the  Americans,  realizing  the  value  of  organ- 
ization both  for  the  regulation  of  their  com- 
munity life  and  as  a  power  for  influencing 
American  opinion,  and  aroused  by  a  state- 
ment of  Commissioner  Bingham  that  the 
Jews  contributed  50  per  cent  of  the  criminals 
of  New  York  City,^  undertook  to  unite  all 
the  Jewish  communities  and  organizations 
into  one  Kehillah,  or  Jewish  community. 
The  first  step  was  to  make  an  inventory 
and  an  impartial  interpretation  of  all  Jewish 
community  activities  in  New  York  City, 
and  the  result  was  published  in  1918  as  the 
Jewish  Communal  Register.  This  volume 
of  1,536  pages  lists  and  describes  3,637 
organizations:  synagogues,  burial  societies, 
immigrant  aid  societies,  employment  bureaus, 
loan  societies,  mutual  aid  societies,  lodges, 
relief  societies,  day  nurseries,  child-caring 
agencies,  hospitals  and  convalescent  homes, 
old-age  homes,  institutions  for  defectives, 
correctional  agencies  (prevention  of  delin- 
quency, after-care  of  inmates  of  prisons), 
research  bureaus,  technical,  religious,  and 
private  schools,  and  so  forth.  The  total 
amount  spent  annually  by  the  Jewish  com- 
munal agencies  in  New  York  City  for  Jewish 
purposes  is  approximately  $17,657,000,  not 

1  This  statement  was  afterward  retracted.  See  Communal 
Register,  p.  49. 

210 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


including  social  clubs  and  theaters,  but 
including  the  Yiddish  newspapers. 

THE  POLES 

In  Polish-American  society  the  parish  is  the 
center  of  community  life,  but  the  formation 
of  the  colony  precedes  the  formation  of  the 
parish.  Wherever  Poles  are  collected  for 
work,  other  Poles  join  them  from  the  old 
country,  and  the  colony  grows  spontaneously. 
The  first  organization  is  a  mutual  aid  society. 
It  is  only  when  the  colony  has  grown  in  num- 
bers that  a  priest  is  called.  But  when  the 
parish  is  established  in  America,  it  has  a 
much  larger  social  function  than  it  has  in 
Poland.  It  assumes,  to  a  degree,  the  char- 
acter of  a  commune. 

139.  Just  as  the  benefit  society  is  much  more  than 
a  mutual  insurance  company,  so  the  PoUsh-American 
parish  is  much  more  than  a  religious  association  for 
common  worship  under  the  leadership  of  a  priest. 
The  unique  power  of  the  parish  in  Polish-American 
life,  much  greater  than  in  even  the  most  conservative 
peasant  communities  in  Poland,  cannot  be  explained 
by  the  predominance  of  religious  interests,  which, 
like  all  other  traditional  social  attitudes,  are  weakened 
by  emigration,  though  they  seem  to  be  the  last  to 
disappear  completely.  The  parish  is,  indeed,  simply 
the  old  primary  community  reorganized  and  con- 
centrated. In  its  concrete  totality  it  is  a  substitute 
for  both  the  narrower  but  more  coherent  village 

.«11 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


group  and  the  wider  but  more  diffuse  and  vaguely 
outlined  okolica.  In  its  institutional  organization 
it  performs  the  functions  which  in  Poland  are  ful- 
filled by  both  the  parish  and  the  commune.  It  does 
not  control  the  Ufe  of  its  members  as  efficiently  as 
did  the  old  community,  for,  first  of  all,  it  seldom 
covers  a  given  territory  entirely  and  is  imable  to 
comp>el  everj'one  living  within  this  territory  to  belong 
to  it;  secondly,  its  stock  of  socially  recognized  rules 
and  forms  of  behavior  is  much  poorer;  thirdly,  the 
attitudes  of  its  members  evolve  too  rapidly  in  the 
new  conditions;  finally,  it  has  no  backing  for  its 
coercive  measures  in  the  wider  society  of  which  it 
is  a  part.  But  its  activities  are  much  broader  and 
more  complex  than  those  of  a  parish  or  of  a  commime 
in  the  old  country. ^ 

The  priest  and  the  parish  committee  are 
careful  to  select  a  site  for  the  chm-ch  as  close 
as  possible  to  the  centers  where  Poles  work, 
and  in  a  locality  where  rent  is  low  and  land 
is  cheap.  There  follows  a  further  terri- 
torial concentration  of  Poles.  The  original 
population — Italians,  Germans,  Irish — 
slowly  moves  out  as  the  neighborhood  be- 
comes predominantly  Polish.  The  parish 
thus  becomes  the  community.  Polish  busi- 
ness is  developed,  associations  of  the  type 
enumerated  in  document  140  are  formed, 
affording  their  members  economic  advan- 
tages,   social   entertainment,    a   field  for 

'  Florian  Znaniecki,  Study  of  Polish  Institutions  iu  America 
(manuscript). 

212 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


economic  co-operation,  educational  oppor- 
tunities, help  in  expressing  and  realizing 
their  political  ideals,  and  a  congenial  social 
milieu  in  which  the  desires  for  recognition 
and  response  are  satisfied.  Even  Poles  who 
are  not  religious  are  thus  drawn  into  the 
parish  institutions. 

The  following  document,  140,  is  an  enu- 
meration of  the  organizations  connected 
with  the  largest  Polish  parish  in  America — 
St.  Stanislaw  Kostka,  in  Chicago;  document 
141  characterizes  one  of  these  organizations. 

140.  Zuaves  of  St.  Stanislaw  Kostka;  Society  of 
the  Virgins  of  the  Holy  Rosary;  Brotherhood  of  the 
Young  Men  of  St.  Joseph;  Citizens'  Club  of  Thaddeus 
Kosciuszko;  Theater  and  Dramatic  Club;  the 
Parochial  School;  the  Parish  Committee;  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Altar  Boys;  the  Marshals  of  the  Upper 
Church;  the  Marshals  of  the  Lower  Church;  the 
Arch-sorority  of  the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary  (two 
groups) ;  the  Women  of  the  Holy  Rosary  (four  groups) 
the  Arch-brotherhood  of  the  Saints;  the  Third  Order 
of  St.  Francis;  the  Choirs  of  the  Upper  Church;  the 
Choirs  of  the  Lower  Church;  the  Club  of  Ladies  of 
Queen  Labrowska;  the  Society  of  the  Alunmi  of  the 
Parish  School;  the  Musical  and  Literary  Society  of 
Leo  XIII;  the  Needlework  Club  of  St.  Rose  of  Lima; 
the  Polish  Roman  Catholic  Union  (central  office); 
the  Society  of  St.  Cecilia  (No.  14  of  the  R.  C.  Union) ; 
the  Society  of  King  John  III  Sobieski  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Most  Holy  Virgin  Mary;  Queen 
of  the  Polish  Crown  (No.  16  of  the  R.  C.  Union); 
15  213 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

the  Society  of  the  Most  Holy  Name  of  Mary  (No. 
2  of  the  R.  C.  Union);  the  Society  of  St.  Stanislaw 
the  Bishop  (No.  31  of  the  R.  C.  Union) ;  the  Society 
of  St.  Walenty  (No.  847  of  the  R.  C.  Union);  the 
Society  of  the  Heart  of  Jesus  (No.  32  of  the  R.  C. 
Union);  the  Society  of  St.  Stefan  (No.  318  of  the 
R.  C.  Union);  the  Society  of  St.  Nicholas  (No.  42 
of  the  R.  C.  Union);  the  Society  of  Polish  Women 
of  God's  Mother  of  Czestochowa  (No.  53  of  the 
R.  C.  Union);  the  Society  of  Priest  Wincenty  Bar- 
zynski  (No.  91  of  the  R.  C.  Union);  the  Society  of 
Pohsh  Women  of  St.  Ceciha  (No.  219  of  the  R.  C. 
Union);  the  Society  of  St.  Bernard  the  Abbot  (No. 
320  of  the  R.  C.  Union);  the  Society  of  St.  Andrew 
the  Apostle  (No.  233  of  the  R.  C.  Union);  the  Society 
of  Polish  Women  of  St.  Agnes  (No.  256  of  the  R.  C. 
Union);  the  Society  of  the  Polish  Crown  (No.  296 
of  the  R.  C.  Union);  the  Society  of  Polish  Women 
of  St.  Lucia  (No.  378  of  the  R.  C.  Union) ;  the  Society 
of  Pohsh  Women  of  St.  Anna  (No.  480  of  the  R.  C. 
Union) ;  the  Society  of  Polish  Women  of  St.  Apolonia 
(No.  482  of  the  R.  C.  Union);  the  Society  of  St. 
Helena  (No.  924  of  the  R.  C.  Union);  the  Society 
of  Polish  Women  of  Queen  Wanda  (No.  525  of  the 
R.  C.  Union) ;  the  Polish  Alma  Mater  (central  oflSce) ; 
the  Branch  of  St.  Kazimierz  the  King's  Son  (No.  1 
of  the  Alma  Mater);  the  Branch  of  St.  Kinga  (No. 
12  of  the  Alma  Mater);  the  Branch  of  St.  Monica 
(No.  25  of  the  Alma  Mater) ;  the  Branch  of  St.  Clara 
(No.  26  of  the  Alma  Mater);  the  Branch  of  St. 
Cecilia  (No.  92  of  the  Alma  Mater);  the  Branch  of 
St.  Joseph  (No.  49  of  the  Alma  Mater);  the  Court 
of  Pulaski  (No.  482  of  the  Union  of  Catholic  For- 
esters); the  Court  of  God's  Mother  of  Good  Advice 
(No.  91  of  Cathohc  Foresters);   the  Court  of  St. 

214 


THE  IMJVnGRANT  COMMUNITY 


Vincent  of  Ferrara  (No.  174  of  Catholic  Foresters); 
the  Court  of  St.  Stanislaw  Kostka  (No.  255  of  CathoHc 
Foresters);  the  Court  of  Priest  Barzynski  (No.  995 
of  Catholic  Foresters);  the  Court  of  St.  Walenty 
(No.  1,001  of  Catholic  Foresters);  the  Court  of  St. 
Irene  (No.  445  of  Catholic  Foresters);  the  Court  of 
Frederic  Chopin  (No.  1,391  of  CathoHc  Foresters); 
the  Court  of  St.  John  (No.  864  of  Catholic  Foresters) ; 
the  Court  of  Leo  XIII  (No.  [?]  of  the  Catholic  For- 
esters); the  Court  of  St.  Martin  the  Pope  (No.  1,143 
of  the  Catholic  Foresters) ;  the  Society  of  the  Guardi- 
anship of  St.  Joseph  (Group  115  of  the  Polish  Asso- 
ciation in  America);  the  Society  of  St.  George  the 
Martyr  (Group  96  of  the  Polish  Association);  the 
Society  of  St.  Roch  (Group  71  of  the  Polish  Associa- 
tion) ;  the  Society  of  St.  John  of  Nepomuk  (Group  26 
of  the  Pohsh  Association) ;  the  Society  of  the  Heart 
of  Jesus  (Group  124  of  the  Polish  Association);  the 
Society  Pearl  of  Mary  (Group  152  of  the  Polish 
Association);  the  Society  of  St.  Wojciech  (Group 
104  of  the  Polish  Association) ;  the  Society  of  Young 
Men  of  St,  Kazimierz  (Independent  Mutual  Help 
Association);  the  Society  of  Ladies  of  Queen  Jadwiga 
(Mutual  Help  Association);  the  Loan  and  Savings 
Association  of  St.  Joseph  No.  3;  the  Building  Loan 
and  Savings  Association  of  Pulaski;  the  Building  < 
Loan  and  Savings  Association  of  St.  Francis;  the 
Press  Committee;  the  College  of  St.  Stanislaw 
Kostka;  the  Novice's  Convent  of  the  Resurrec- 
tionists; the  Convent  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Francis; 
the  Chicago  Daily  News  (Polish) — 74  in  all.^ 


*  Listed  and  described  in  Album  Pamiqtkowe  z  Okazyi  Zfotego 
Juhileuszu  Parafii  Sw.  Stani^wa  Kostka  (Memorial  Album  of 
the  Celebration  of  the  Golden  Jubilee  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Stanislaus 
Kostka) . 

215 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


141.  Zuaves  of  St.  Stanislaus  Kostka.  The  Zuaves 
were  organized  into  an  association  May  1,  1915,  by 
Rev.  Franciszek  Dembinski,  the  present  rector  of 
the  parish.  They  wear  uniforms,  helmets,  and  swords 
on  the  model  of  the  Papal  Guard  in  the  Vatican. 
These  little  knights  participate  in  large  celebrations 
like  New  Year's,  the  Forty  Hours'  Divine  Service, 
Pentecost,  Christmas,  the  first  communion  of  the 
school  children;  they  stand  on  guard  at  the  grave 
of  Lord  Jesus  (before  Easter),  take  part  in  the  pro- 
cessions on  Easter  and  Corpus  Christi.  The  Zuaves 
drill  in  the  school  courtyard.  The  drill  is  taught  by 
the  well-known  captain  of  the  cavalry  of  Stanislaw, 
IVL".  Franciszek  Gorzynski.  The  Zuaves  are  com- 
posed of  thirty  members  chosen  from  the  Society  of 
Altar  Boys.  .  .  .  They  are  sons  of  parents  who 
have  belonged  to  the  parish  for  many  years  and  have 
been  educated  in  the  parochial  school.  They  are 
obliged  to  shine  as  models  of  devotion,  to  partake 
regularly  of  the  Holy  Sacraments  and  thereby  to  be 
good  sons  of  their  dear  parents,  to  know  the  history 
of  their  ancestors,  the  great  men  of  Poland,  to  talk 
Polish  among  themselves  and  at  home.  In  a  word, 
the  Zuaves  are  expected  to  be  the  guardians  of  every- 
thing that  is  divine  and  Polish  in  order  to  grow  to  be 
real  Polish  patriots  and  defenders  of  the  Christian  faith. 
[Picture  of  the  group  and  names  of  members  given.]  ^ 

Document  142  illustrates  the  formation 
of  a  small  parish,  and  document  143  shows 
the  condition  of  the  same  parish  after 
twenty-five  years,  under  the  leadership  of 
an  exceptionally  energetic  priest. 

1  Album  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Stanislaus  Kostka,  p.  95. 
216 


THE  IM\nGRANT  COmiUNITY 


142.  The  first  Pole  who  came  to  New  Britain  was 
]VIr.  Tomasz  Ostrowski.  After  him  others  began  to 
arrive  and  in  September,  1889,  a  mutual  help  society 
under  the  patronage  of  St.  INIichael  the  Archangel 
was  established.  [All  the  officers  enumerated.  .  .  .  ] 
In  1894  Priest  Dr.  Misicki,  rector  of  the  parish  in 
Meriden,  Connecticut,  came  every  Sunday  to  cele- 
brate the  holy  mass  in  New  Britain  in  the  old  Irish 
chiu-ch  on  Myrtle  Street,  at  a  yearly  salary  of  $500. 
Then  the  society,  together  with  other  noble-minded 
Poles,  began  to  think  about  establishing  a  Polish 
parish,  which  was  organized  under  the  patronage  of 
St.  Kazimierz.  .  .  . 

In  September,  1895,  Rev.  Lucyan  Bojnowski  .  .  . 
was  appointed  rector  of  the  parish  .  .  .  and  a  wooden 
church  was  built  under  the  patronage  of  the  Sweetest 
Heart  of  Jesus.  .  .  .  First  of  all  Priest  Bojnowski 
made  efiForts  to  turn  the  people  from  drink,  from 
getting  married  in  court,  from  indecent  dress,  from 
holding  balls  on  Saturdays  and  nightly  revelries, 
from  playing  cards,  loafing  in  saloons,  fighting  in 
their  homes,  immoral  life,  conjugal  infidelity,  theft, 
bad  education  of  children,  indecent  behavior  on  the 
street,  and  disorderly  conduct  at  weddings  and 
christenings.  Instead,  he  encouraged  them  to  go 
to  confession  and  communion,  to  participate  in 
various  divine  services,  to  belong  to  fraternities, 
etc.  .  .  .1 

143.  (1)  The  old  church  now  contains  school- 
rooms and  the  rectorate.  It  is  worth  $25,000.  (2) 
The  new  church  (the  largest  in  New  Britain)  cost 
$150,000  when  built,  and  is  now  worth  $300,000. 
(3)  The  new  school  was  built  in  1904  at  the  cost  of 

*  From  a  history  of  the  parish  of  New  Britain,  written  by  Priest 
Bojnowski,  and  publi^ed  in  1902. 

217 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

$150,000.  It  is  now  worth  twice  as  much,  (4)  A 
house  for  the  teaching  nuns  is  worth  $15,000.  (5) 
The  parish  has  a  cemetery  worth  $25,000.  There 
are  no  debts  on  all  of  these  buildings  and  lots.  (6)  In 
1889  a  co-operative  bakery  was  established  with  an 
original  capital  of  $6,000  contributed  by  5  associa- 
tions. At  present  its  property  is  worth  $60,000. 
(7)  In  1904  a  PoUsh  orphanage  was  foimded.  It 
owns  now  4  houses,  146  acres  within  the  limits  of 
the  town,  107  acres  outside  the  limits,  30  head  of 
cattle,  7  horses,  70  hogs,  500  hens;  total  value  over 
$200,000.  No  debts.  (8)  There  is  a  parochial 
printing  oflBce.  The  lot,  the  building,  and  the 
machinery  are  worth  $35,000.  There  is  a  debt  of 
$5,000.  (9)  The  Polish  Loan  and  Industrial  Cor- 
poration, founded  in  1915,  has  a  capitaUzation  of 
$50,000,  and  owns  $45,000  worth  of  houses.  (10)  The 
Polish  Investment  and  Loan  Corporation,  founded 
in  1915,  has  a  capitalization  of  $75,000  and  real 
estate  worth  $10,000.  (11)  The  People's  Savings 
Bank,  founded  in  December,  1916,  has  $496,000 
deposited.  (12)  The  New  Britain  Clothing  Cor- 
poration, founded  in  1919,  capitalized  at  $50,000, 
has  merchandise  worth  $100,000  and  real  estate 
worth  $140,000.  (13)  The  White  Eagle  Factory, 
estabhshed  in  1919,  capitalized  at  $25,000,  produces 
cutlery.  All  of  the  above  are  co-operative  organiza- 
tions. (14)  We  gave  750  solbiers  to  the  American 
army  and  301  to  the  Polish  army.  (15)  We  have 
contributed  to  the  Polish  Relief  Fund  and  to  the 
Polish  Army  Fund,  up  to  this  moment,  $110,672.36. 
(16)  The  parish  counts  now  nearly  9,000  souls, 
including  children.  In  1894  there  were  only  700, 
counting  Lithuanians,  Slovaks,  and  Poles.    (17)  The 

218 


THE  IMMIGK\NT  COMMUNITY 


parochial  school  has  35  teachers  and  an  attendance 
of  1,736  children.! 

THE  BOHEMIANS 

In  contrast  with  the  Poles,  who,  as  we  have 
seen,  are  very  difficult  from  the  standpoint 
of  assimilation,  the  Bohemians  are  almost 
ideal  material.  They  are  democratic  in 
their  tendencies,  have  the  settler  psychology, 
own  a  larger  percentage  of  their  homes  here 
than  any  other  immigrant  group,  bring  the 
smallest  amount  of  illiteracy  and  the  largest 
amount  of  skilled  labor  of  any  group  from 
the  former  dual  empire,  not  excepting  the 
Germans. 2 

The  feature  of  Bohemian  life  in  America 
which  has  attracted  most  attention  and 
caused  most  criticism  is  their  freethinking 
organizations.  They  are  a  deeply  moral 
people  and  every  Bohemian  has  in  him  a 
bit  of  John  Hus,  but  in  America  there  has 
been  a  movement  away  from  the  Catholic 
religion  toward  rationalism.  Their  morality 
is  here  formulated  in  terms  of  the  negation 
of  religion.  Perhaps  half  of  the  Bohemians 
in  America  are  freethinkers: 

*  Letter  of  Priest  Bojnowski  to  Florian  Znaniecki.  We  know 
from  other  sources  that  most  of  the  institutions  of  the  parish  are 
due  to  the  initiative  of  Priest  B6jnowski  himself. 

^  See,  e.g.,  Thomas  Capek,  The  Cecks  in  America  (Introduction). 
219 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


144.  Professor  Steiner  in  an  article  on  the  Bohe- 
mians in  America  in  the  Outlook  for  April  25,  1903, 
says  that  they  are  the  most  irreligious  of  all  om-  im- 
migrants and  quotes  !Mr.  Geringer,  editor  of  the 
Svomost,  "  that  there  are  in  Chicago  alone  three  hun- 
dred societies  that  teach  infidelity,  that  carry  on 
propaganda  for  their  imbehef,  and  that  maintain 
Simday-schools  in  which  the  attendance  varies  from 
thirty  to  three  thousand."  This  must  comit  as  one, 
each  branch  of  all  the  organizations,  in  which  case 
that  cannot  be  far  from  correct.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind,  however,  that  many  of  these  organizations  are 
aiming  at  something  else,  and  in  some  cases  directly 
prohibit  discussion  of  rehgious  subjects,  but  the 
sympathy  of  the  members  is  such  that  they  come 
to  be  recognized  as  free-thought  societies  by  the 
members  and  by  outsiders.  .  .  .  Probably  the  best 
articulated  organization  which  opyenly  advocates 
freethinMng  is  the  Bohemian-Slavonian  Benevolent 
Society,  generally  known  by  the  initials  of  the 
Bohemian  name,  C,  S.  P.  S.  This  was  founded  in 
St.  Louis  in  1854,  and  now  has  25,000  members. 
At  first  it  was  Catholic  and  for  benevolent  purposes. 
In  September,  1909,  it  declared  absolutely  for  free 
thought.  This  does  not  mean  that  all  the  members 
are  interested  in  the  propaganda  of  freethinking,  but 
no  one  is  a  member  who  is  not  in  sympathy  with 
it,  and  through  the  official  monthly  paper,  which 
each  member  must  take,  a  great  influence  is  exerted. 

The  object  of  the  brotherhood,  as  expressed  in  its 
constitution,  is  "to  endeavor  to  perpetuate  the 
Bohemian  language  in  this  country  and  secure  for 
both  sexes  the  moral  as  well  as  the  intellectual  and 
material  elevation  of  our  countrymen;    to  foster 

220 


THE  IMMIGRANT  COMMUNITY 


brotherly  love  and  intellectual  freedom  among  the 
members;  and  to  give  mutual  aid  in  sickness  and 
death  as  well  as  in  public  life."  Observation  shows 
that  this  purpose  is  kept  rather  consistently,  though 
there  are  many  members  whose  only  interest  is  the 
sickness  and  death  benefit.  The  organization  has 
the  form  of  lodges,  and  in  many  towns  in  the  country 
they  have  good  halls.  An  interesting  tendency 
which  shows  a  reaction  from  the  Church  is  the 
gradual  dropping  of  forms  and  secrecy.  Formerly 
it  had  three  degrees,  but  now  only  the  password, 
and  many  of  the  members  object  to  even  retaining 
that.  Again,  formerly  they  had  elaborate  badges, 
but  these  have  become  more  and  more  simple,  and 
the  button  which  is  worn  as  an  insignia  is  very  plain.^ 


THE  SCANDINAVIANS 

The  Scandinavians  bring  a  psychology  which 
presents  no  particular  obstacles  to  assimila- 
tion. They  are  not  carrying  on  a  nation- 
alistic struggle  here;  they  are  not  possessed 
of  a  mania  of  grandeur  as  representatives 
of  states  that  are  great,  have  been  great,  or 
will  to  be  great.  They  are  not  the  objects 
of  exploitation  by  their  own  leaders.  They 
are  usually  settlers,  or  have  the  settler 
psychology,  represented  in  document  62, 
p.  84.  In  general,  the  Church  is  the  center 
of  their  cultural  activities,  and  they  read 
and  print  much  religious  literature.  They 

'  Herbert  A.  Miller,  The  Bohemians  in  America  (manuscript). 
221 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


have  also  a  tender  sentiment  for  their  home 
comitry  and  language: 

145.  The  Synod  expresses  its  appreciation  of  the 
loyalty  of  our  people  toward  our  country  and  our 
government,  its  willing  sacrifice  of  men  and  means 
for  all  governmental  purposes,  and  the  work  which 
is  being  done  in  the  army  and  na\'y  by  our  chaplains, 
the  National  Lutheran  Commission  and  the  Lutheran 
Brotherhood;  and  reaffirms  its  fidelity  toward  our 
country,  its  constitution,  laws,  and  government,  and 
its  purposes  to  place  property  and  life,  in  the  future 
as  hitherto,  at  the  disposal  of  our  country  and  our 
government.  The  Synod  is  also  gratefully  cognizant 
of  the  fact  that  our  Lutheran  people  of  Swedish 
parentage  in  Canada,  with  great  readiness,  have 
placed  men  and  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  British 
government  in  the  present  war. 

In  all  our  school  activities — as  well  as  in  aU  other 
branches  of  our  church  work — it  is  incumbent  upon 
us  to  meet  existing  linguistic  needs.  Oiu"  immigrants 
and  our  children  must  learn  the  English,  the  official 
language  of  the  country,  but  the  Swedish  should 
also  be  retained  as  a  valuable  cultural  heritage,  as 
far  as  possible.  The  Synod  is  of  the  opinion  that 
limitation  in  the  study  of  foreign  languages  is  a 
lowering  of  national  educational  ideals,  and  that  the 
prohibition  of  the  use  of  other  languages  than  the 
English  is  at  variance  with  American  principles  of 
liberty  for  which  the  nation  has  bled  and  is  bleeding.^ 

The  map  on  page  223  shows  the  distri- 
bution of  Norwegian  Lutheran  churches  in 
Minnesota. 

'  Augustana  Synodena  Referat  (1918),  p.  29. 

222 


THE  imnGRANT  COMMUNITY 


We  shall  speak  later  of  the  pauperization 
of  culture  which  an  immigrant  group  in 
America  suffers  when  it  fails  to  use  the 


Map  9. — Norwegian  Lutheran  Chdhches  in  Minnesota 


general  values  provided  by  the  larger  Amer- 
ican society  (see  p.  304  and  document  168.) 
This  has  happened,  in  some  measure,  to  the 
Scandinavians. 

'  Drawn  from  map  in  Norsk  Luthershe  Menigheter  i  Amerika,  1916. 

223 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


146.  In  higher  education  the  Scandinavians  have 
allowed  their  denominational  zeal  to  outrun  their 
judgment.  They  have  founded  numerous  seminaries 
and  so-called  colleges,  but  almost  invariably  as  a 
part  of  the  necessary  equipment  of  a  religious  denom- 
ination, for  how  could  a  self-respecting  sect,  no  matter 
how  young  or  how  slightly  differentiated  from  its 
older  brethren,  permit  its  children  to  attend  the 
schools  of  those  whose  denominational  beliefs  or 
practices  had  become  objectionable  enough  to  war- 
rant a  schism  in  the  church?  A  few  of  these  in- 
stitutions, like  Luther  College,  at  Deborah,  Iowa, 
Gustavus  Adolphus  College,  at  St.  Peter,  iVIinnesota, 
Augustana  College  at  Rock  Island,  DUnois,  and 
Bethany  College  at  Lindsborg,  Kansas,  have  main- 
tained an  excellent  standard  of  work  and  exercised 
a  wide  and  beneficent  influence.  The  great  majority, 
however,  have  simply  wasted  resources  by  the  multi- 
phcation  of  ambitious,  struggling,  poorly  equipped, 
so-called  colleges,  with  httle  or  no  endowment,  and 
often  dependent  upon  the  congregations  of  the 
denomination  which  gave  them  birth. 

One  of  the  results  of  the  excessive  splitting  up  of 
the  ScandinaNnan  churches  is  that  the  energies  which 
ought  to  be  concentrated  are  frittered  away  on 
unnecessary  schools.  A  separate  denominational 
school  and  a  family  paper  seem  to  be  indispensable 
parts  of  the  machinery  of  every  newly  organized  sect, 
no  matter  how  young  or  how  small  or  how  poor  it 
may  be.^ 

1  C.  H.  Babcock,  The  Scandinaman  Element  in  the  United  States, 
p.  111. 


VIII 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 

In  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  impHcitly 
or  expHcitly  characterized  the  influence  of 
certain  immigrant  communities  on  their 
members.  In  the  present  chapter  we  com- 
pare the  preparation  that  the  largest  three 
groups  of  the  so-called  new  immigration — 
the  Poles,  the  Jews,  and  the  Italians — give 
their  members  for  engaging  in  American 
activities.  These  groups  are  numerically 
about  equal,  the  Poles  numbering  about 
3,000,000,  the  Jews,  3,300,000,  the  Italians 
about  3,200,000. 

THE  POLISH  COMMUNITY 

Polish  leaders  in  Europe  have  done  a  unique 
work  for  the  improvement  of  the  condition 
of  the  people.  After  many  bloody  and 
futile  revolutions,  the  nobility  realized  that 
its  strength  was  spent  and  turned  to  the 
people — ^particularly  the  peasants.  After 
1863  a  "movement  for  enlightenment"  was 

225 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TR.SJ^SPLANTED 

begun  whose  object  was  to  make  the  peas- 
ant self-conscious,  nationally  conscious,  and 
materially  prosperous.  Men  and  women  of 
the  nobility,  students,  young  girls,  priests, 
all  the  Polish  intelligentsia,  participated 
seriously  and  ceaselessly.  Newspapers  were 
developed  appealing  to  the  peasant,  agri- 
cultural societies  were  formed,  banks  were 
established  for  the  peasant,  some  enthusi- 
asts married  peasant  women.  At  first  the 
peasants  viewed  all  this  with  suspicion,  but 
in  the  end  they  realized  that  the  motives  of 
the  other  classes  were  unselfish,  and  began 
to  respond  and  participate.  They  wrote 
to  the  newspapers,  asked  information  about 
soils  and  bee  keeping,  reported  successes, 
organized  co-operative  societies. 

The  results  of  this  movement  were  very 
real  and  practical.  One  of  them  was  the 
complete  economic  defeat  of  the  Prussians 
in  German  Poland.  In  their  attempts  to 
Germanize  this  region  the  Prussians  spent 
$140,000,000  in  colonizing  it  with  Germans 
from  the  Rhine  provinces.  To  resist  them, 
the  Poles,  under  the  leadership  of  Maximilian 
Jackowski  (a  noble),  organized  330  peasant 
societies;  a  powerful  prelate,  Wawrzyniak, 
organized  a  system  of  peasant  banks;  any 
Pole  who  outbid  the  Germans  on  land  and 
saved  it  for  Poland  was  lauded  in  more  than 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  mFLUENCE 


300  newspapers  and  periodicals;  all  German 
goods  were  boycotted.  In  the  end  the  Poles 
had  more  land  than  when  Bismarck  inau- 
gurated the  German  colonization  movement, 
after  the  war  with  France.  In  Prussian 
Poland  the  movement  was  mainly  economic 
and  political.  Bernhard's  important  book, 
Die  Polenfrage  (1909),  was  a  semioflScial  re- 
port on  the  situation,  informing  the  Prus- 
sian government  that  it  was  defeated  and 
advising  it  to  expropriate  Polish  land.  The 
movement  in  Russian  Poland  was  rather 
along  educational  and  co-operative  lines 
and  is  recorded  in  Volume  IV  of  The  Polish 
Peasant. 

As  a  result  of  this  social  experiment,  the 
Poles  learned  to  regard  the  individual  mem- 
ber of  the  community  as  a  supreme  value 
and  thus  benefited  Poland  immensely,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  Poland  was  not  a  state 
and  was  surrounded  by  states  ready  to 
destroy  her  values  as  fast  as  she  created 
them.  Having  this  in  mind,  it  is  remarkable 
that  the  Polish  communities  in  America 
have  conspicuously  neglected  those  of  their 
members  who  are  not  successful. 

147,  The  social  attitude  manifested  with  reference 
to  questions  of  public  charity  and  social  work  in 
general  are  interesting.  It  has  been  noticed  that 
as  compared,  for  instance,  with  the  Jewish  charitable 

227 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


institutions,  the  Poles  m  America  have  Httle  to  show 
in  this  Une.  Care  for  orphans  and  care  for  the  old 
and  incurable  are  practically  the  only  problems  which 
are  more  or  less  seriously  dealt  with;  in  other  fields 
initiative  is  rare  and  realization  insufficient.  The 
few  charitable  institutions  are  due  to  the  personal 
efforts  of  a  few  leading  members  of  PoHsh-American 
society  acting  through  the  Church  and  influenced 
by  Christian  principles,  rather  than  to  the  recogni- 
tion of  altruistic  obligations  by  the  society  at  large. 
In  a  word,  no  social  need  to  take  care  of  the  weak 
seems  to  be  felt  by  Polish-American  communities.  .  .  . 

The  moral  reason  by  which  the  Polish-American 
community  justifies  its  apparent  egotism  is  foimd 
in  the  very  basis  of  its  organization.  The  latter  is 
socially  and  economically  an  organization  for  self- 
help;  its  first  purpose  is  to  prevent  the  individual 
from  becoming  a  burden  to  the  commxmity,  and  the 
individual  who  does  not  choose  to  avail  himself  of 
the  opportxmities  which  this  organization  offers, 
voluntarily  resigns  all  claims  to  the  help  of  the  group. 
If  the  latter  still  feels  obliged  to  assist  in  some  meas- 
ure the  orphans,  the  old,  and  the  incurables,  it  is 
only  in  so  far  as  it  feels  that  the  system  of  mutual 
insurance  is  not  yet  efficient  enough  to  cover  these 
cases  adequately. 

Of  course  since  the  Polish-American  community 
tends  to  ignore  even  the  merely  inefficient,  we  cannot 
expect  it  to  take  any  care  of  the  demoralized.  The 
contrast  is  striking  between  the  intense  reformatory 
work  ia  this  country.  Individual  demoralization 
is  either  ignored  or  the  demorahzed  individual  is 
simply  dropped  at  once.  No  one  bothers  about  the 
innumerable  cases  of  family  decay,  juvenile  delin- 
quency, alcoholism,  vagabondage,  crime.    Few  know 

228 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


the  full  extent  of  the  demoralization  going  on  among 
American  Poles. ^ 

This  means  that  while  the  Poles  have  been 
carrying  on  a  struggle  here  to  preserve  their 
members  from  Americanization  and  save 
them  for  Poland,  or  for  a  Polonia  Americana, 
they  have  at  the  same  time  abandoned  their 
mifit  and  misadapted  members  to  the  min- 
istrations of  our  charity  organizations,  legal 
aid  societies,  and  juvenile  courts.  The  cases 
with  Polish  names  cited  in  the  documents 
in  Chapter  IV  are  examples.^ 

American  social  workers  who  handle 
Polish  cases  feel  that  the  Polish  organiza- 
tions are  often  inclined  to  avoid  their  respon- 
sibilities toward  those  who  are  legally  entitled 
to  benefits,  as  shown  in  document  148  below: 

148.  Plaintiff,  Sigmund  Stecki,  belonged  to  the 
Polish  National  Alliance,  group  565,  paid  his  dues 
regularly  and  was  in  good  standing.  According  to 
the  by-laws  a  sick  member  unable  to  support  his 

*  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant,  vol.  v  (in  press). 

*  The  Polish-American  organizations  have  imitated  the  organi- 
zation of  the  historical  Polish  state,  not  the  peasant  community  in 
Poland.  The  peasant  community  was  absolutely  democratic, 
while  the  Polish  state  was  formerly  a  "nobUity -nation,"  aristo- 
cratic and  hierarchic  to  an  almost  unparalleled  degree.  And  it 
was  the  latter  spirit  which  Polish  leaders  introduced  into  their 
organizations  here.  AU  of  their  organizations  select  their  members 
carefully  (see  document  147).  Even  the  one  corresponding  to  the 
American  Boy  Scouts  (document  141,  p.  216)  selects  its  members 
for  their  good  breeding,  piety,  "knightly"  qualities,  etc.,  whereas 
the  American  Boy  Scouts  convert  even  the  worst  characters. 

16  229 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


family  is  entitled  to  a  sick  benefit  of  $5  a  week  for 
three  months,  and  $3  a  week  for  six  months  there- 
after, if  he  is  sick  more  than  a  week  and  reports  his 
sickness. 

Plaintiff  was  sick  from  May  23  to  July  3,  1912 — 
eight  weeks.  He  reported  his  sickness.  The  secre- 
tary of  the  lodge  (his  cousin)  came  to  see  him,  and 
said  he  would  rather  pay  from  his  own  money  than 
from  the  lodge,  because  he  had  recommended  plain- 
tiff to  the  lodge  and  would  be  disgraced  by  plaintiff's 
sickness.  Plaintiff  had  a  swelling  in  his  right  leg 
from  eczema.  Doctor  Golembianski  from  the  lodge 
did  not  call  on  plaintiff  untU  the  end  of  his  sickness. 
Plaintiff  called  at  his  office  once  the  following  week. 
That  was  all  the  care  he  got.  No  help  came  from  the 
lodge.  When  plaintiff  was  well,  he  attended  a  meet- 
ing of  the  lodge,  and  when  he  noticed  no  movement 
to  pay  his  claim  he  rose  and  asked  why  they  had 
forgotten  him.  The  lodge  said  he  had  failed  to  notify 
them.  He  assured  them  his  wife  had  notified  the 
secretary,  the  secretary  had  called,  and  also  the 
doctor  who  had  reported  to  the  lodge.  Then  they 
gave  him  $10  only;  the  balance  of  $25  they  never 
paid. 

[Plaintiff  acutely  sick  three  times  later  without 
aid.]  The  foiu-th  time  Horn  Brothers  (his  employers) 
wrote  to  [the  proper  group  of]  the  Polish  National 
Alliance,  suggesting  they  were  getting  money  under 
false  pretenses.  He  got  no  answer  and  turned  case 
over  to  the  Legal  Aid  Society. 

At  first  they  paid  no  attention  to  us.  Then  [their 
attorney]  wrote  that  his  society  had  decided  to  pay 
plaintiff  nothing  for  five  reasons:  (1)  he  did  not 
belong  to  the  group;  (2)  he  did  not  pay  according 
to  the  constitution;  C3)  he  did  not  go  to  their  doctor 

230 


TYPES  OF  COmiUNITY  INFLUENCE 


to  be  treated;  (4)  he  indulged  in  intoxicating  liquors 
during  his  illness,  preventing  recovery;  (5)  this 
society  had  paid  him  twice  and  according  to  the 
constitution  once  is  required  [in  cases  of  chronic 
sickness]. 

[Their  attorney]  told  our  attorney  when  they  met 
in  court  that  plaintiff  was  "no  good,"  beats  his  wife, 
gets  "dead  drunk,"  fights,  was  brought  into  court 
and  fined  for  fighting,  had  been  expelled  from  numer- 
ous lodges  for  "crookedness,"  that  plaintiff's  cousin, 
first  secretary,  did  not  notify  the  lodge  of  plaintiff's 
first  illness  as  the  rules  required,  etc. 

As  to  the  reasons  for  not  paying:  (1)  he  did 
belong  to  the  lodge  at  the  time,  but  dropped  out 
later  when  they  continually  refused  to  pay  him;  (2) 
he  did  pay  dues,  and  paid  $12  in  all  for  dues;  (3)  he 
did  go  to  their  doctor  whenever  notified;  (4)  he 
never  drank  to  excess;  (5)  the  disease  was  always 
acute,  not  chronic.  Investigation  by  his  employers 
showed  that  all  the  stories  against  his  character  were 
false.  He  was  honest,  steady,  reliable,  kind  to  wife, 
and  Horn  Brothers  thought  highly  of  him. 

The  judge  gave  judgment  for  plaintiff  for  $75. 
But  the  lodge  then  moved  to  set  aside  judgment, 
showing  they  were  not  a  corporation  as  sued. 

The  Legal  Aid  Society  could  not  find  whom  to 
sue  and  has  done  nothing.  The  case  dragged  so 
long  in  court  that  everybody,  even  Horn  Brothers, 
lost  interest.  The  last  letter  from  Horn  Brothers, 
dated  October  30,  1914,  says: 

"  [The  attorney]  in  this  case,  met  Mr.  Stecki  about 
two  weeks  ago,  and  claimed  they  would  fight  the 
case  and  spend  $200  or  $400  in  defeating  his  claim. 
It  seems  from  all  we  can  gather  that  there  has  been 
a  fight  among  themselves  and  that  it  is  a  band  of 

231 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


saloon  keepers  who  are  running  this  for  their  mutual 
advantage.  If  this  is  a  fact,  it  should  be  wiped  out, 
and  we  trust  you  wiU  do  what  you  can  to  accomplish 
this  end." » 

Another  defect  of  the  PoKsh  commimity 
is  the  failure  to  provide  various  types  of 
organizations  which  would  assist  their  mem- 
bers in  adjusting  themselves  to  the  complex 
American  life.  Practically  all  of  their  organ- 
izations have  the  same  function — mutual 
aid,  social  recognition,  and  cultivation  of 
the  Polish  spirit.  The  Polish  National 
Alliance,  for  example,  is  merely  a  federation 
of  about  1,700  such  societies. 

149.  By  multiplying  indefinitely  associations  and 
circles,  and  by  a  very  active  propaganda  exercised 
through  all  possible  mediums,  nearly  all  the  members 
of  the  parish — men,  women,  and  young  people — 
even  those  who  for  some  reason  or  other  have  not 
yet  joined  the  parish,  or  have  dropped  out,  can 
become  in  some  way  connected  with  the  system  and 
thus  acquire  a  minimum  of  public  character.  This 
public  character  grows  whenever  an  individual  is, 
even  if  only  momentarily,  connected  as  public  func- 
tionary with  some  scheme  for  common  action — 
religious  ceremony,  entertainment,  meeting,  bazaar, 
collection  for  a  social  piUT)Ose,  etc. — ^and  this  increased 
pubUc  importance  is  every  year  attained  by  large 
proportion  of  the  community.  The  highest  degree 
of  pubUc  dignity  is,  of  course,  the  share  of  those  who 
are  elected  officers  in  associations  or  become  mem- 


*  Records  of  the  Chicago  Legal  Aid  Society. 

232 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


bers  of  permanent  committees,  or  directors  of  insti- 
tutions; and  if  we  realize  that  every  association  has 
from  6  to  20  officials,  that  every  committee  numbers 
on  the  average  10  members,  and  that  some  large 
parishes  have  more  than  70  associations  and  com- 
mittees, while  even  a  small  parish  has  at  least  a 
dozen  of  them,  we  see  that  every  active  and  fairly 
intelligent  individual,  whatever  his  sex  and  age,  is 
sure  of  becoming  some  time  a  public  dignitary;  and 
even  if  the  existing  organization  does  not  give  him 
enough  opportunities,  he  can  always  initiate  a  new 
institution  and  gain  recognition  as  organizer  and 
charter  member.^ 

By  thus  multiplying  "dignities"  and  pro- 
viding opportunities  for  public  appearance 
— in  theatrical  representations,  concerts, 
balls,  and  recitals — the  Polish  community 
has  succeeded  in  institutionalizing  a  large 
part  of  the  activities  of  its  members,  and 
subjecting  them  to  control.  But  with  the 
exception  of  the  Alliance  of  Polish  Socialists 
(a  numerically  small  body  appealing  to  the 
specialized  city  workman)  every  Polish  insti- 
tution here  attempts  to  meet  all  the  needs 
of  the  individual  member.  The  result  is 
that  the  Polish  immigrant  is  arrested  within 
his  community.  He  shows  little  tendency 
to  participate  in  American  life  and  insti- 
tutions, is  hardly  ever  seen  in  our  colleges 
and  universities,  shows  notably  little  public 

1  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant,  vol.  v  (in  press). 
233 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


spirit,  remains  on  a  relatively  low  level  of 
efficiency,  and  contributes  heavily  through 
crime  and  poverty  to  the  burden  of  the 
American  state. 

THE  JEWISH  COMMUNTTY 

Although  the  Jew  has  always  been  obliged 
to  organize  his  community  life  in  a  separate 
and  self-sufficient  way  in  the  different  Euro- 
pean states,  and  consequently  brings  to  this 
country  the  habits  of  organization,  the  con- 
ditions of  industry  in  Europe  were  so  dif- 
ferent, the  American  melting-pot  has  so 
powerful  an  effect  on  the  old  ritualistic  and 
communistic  attitudes,  the  mass  of  Jews  is 
so  great  in  New  York  City,  the  Jews  so 
strange  to  one  another,  that  the  problem 
of  organization  has  been  as  great  for  the 
Jews  as  for  the  other  groups.  The  Jews, 
however,  have  the  settler  psychology.  They 
bring  their  intellectuals,  professionals,  busi- 
ness men,  as  well  as  their  revolutionists 
and  workers,  and  have,  more  than  other 
groups,  the  elements  for  a  complete  society. 

Other  immigrant  groups  are  usually  de- 
fective in  leadership  and  creative  individ- 
uals; few  intellectuals  come,  and  those  who 
do  come  are  usually  only  intelligent  enough 
to  exploit  the  simpler  members  of  their  own 

234 


TYPES  OF  COMIklUNITY  INFLUENCE 


groups,  not  to  compete  with  intellectual 
Americans.  Consequently  it  is  in  general 
true  that  the  immigrant  leader  is  able  and 
willing  to  organize  his  people  just  sufficiently 
for  his  own  good,  but  not  sufficiently  for 
their  good. 

The  Jews,  on  the  contrary,  are  conspic- 
uous as  creators  and  organizers  in  different 
fields — economic,  scientific,  artistic,  etc. — 
and  their  superior  members  not  only  live 
without  exploiting  their  own  people,  but 
sincerely  devote  their  abilities  and  resources 
to  the  improvement  of  the  mass  of  their 
race.  Furthermore,  for  the  first  time  since 
the  dispersion  the  Jews  have  found  in  Amer- 
ica a  toleration  which  has  made  it  possible 
for  them  to  show  an  open  interest  in  their 
own  welfare  and  to  discuss  openly  the 
improvement  of  their  status  and  the  realiza- 
tion of  their  ideals.^ 

For  these  reasons,  the  Jews,  far  more  than 
any  other  immigrant  group,  are  resorting 
to  reflective  social  activity  and  supplement- 
ing the  old  social  forms,  spontaneously 

'"For  centuries  Jews  had  been  forced  by  circumstances  to 
abandon  their  own  traditions  of  democracy  inherited  from  their 
fathers  and  expressed  in  the  Hebrew  commonwealth,  and  to 
seek  protection,  not  through  the  methods  of  free  and  open  discus- 
sion, and  the  development  of  public  opinion,  but  by  secret  and 
indirect  means,  through  the  efforts  of  individuals  who  had  or 
were  supposed  to  have  influence." — Louis  D.  Brandeis,  Jeicisk 
Rights  and  the  Congress,  address,  Carnegie  Hall,  January  24, 1916. 

235 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


reproduced,  with  new,  conscious  organiza- 
tions. The  organization  of  the  Kehillah  in 
New  York  City  was,  in  fact,  the  beginning 
of  a  scientific  study  of  the  Jews  by  them- 
selves.   Their  primary  aim  was: 

150.  (1)  To  secure  exact,  systematic,  compre- 
hensive knowledge  concerning  the  Jewish  commimity 
of  New  York  City,  and  the  Jewish  problem  in  all  its 
phases;  (2)  to  engage  upon  as  many  experiments 
as  possible  through  first-hand  experience  of  the 
various  phases  of  the  problem;  and  (3)  to  point 
out  paths  along  which  the  community  might  develop 
in  order  to  become  in  fact  a  conscious,  organized, 
united  community.^ 

Beside  taking  action  to  meet  a  large  niun- 
ber  of  specific  needs,  emergencies  and  abuses, 
the  Kehillah  has  established  a  number  of 
co-ordinating,  standardizing,  and  research 
institutions.  Among  them  are:  a  Bureau 
of  Jewish  Education  ("for  the  purpose  of 
standardizing  the  methods  of  Jewish  educa- 
tion; ...  to  find  ways  and  means  of  pro- 
viding Jewish  training  for  all  the  Jewish 
childi-en  of  school  age  in  this  city");  a 
Bureau  of  Industrv  ("  .  .  .  to  direct  voca- 
tional  training,  to  provide  employment  for 
the  handicapped,  as  well  as  for  the  highly 
skilled,  and  to  work  out  methods  for  the 
maintenance  of  peace  in  industries  where 

*  Communed  Register,  p.  55. 

236 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


Jews  preponderate");  a  School  for  Com- 
munal Work,  a  Bureau  of  Philanthropic 
Research,  etc.^ 

From  the  standpoint  of  organization  the 
Jews  are  the  most  interesting  of  the  immi- 
grant groups.  There  is  among  them,  indeed, 
a  great  variety  of  disorder  and  personal 
demoralization — gambling,  extortion,  vaga- 
bondage, family  desertion,  white  slavery, 
ordinary  and  extraordinary  crime — as  a 
consequence  of  the  rapid  decay  in  America 
of  the  Jewish  traditions  and  attitudes;^ 
there  are  divisions  and  animosities  among 
them,  and  quarrels  about  opinions — the 
mere  statement  that  the  Jews  are  a  national 
rather  than  a  religious  community  was  suf- 
ficient to  convulse  the  recent  Jewish  con- 
gress at  Philadelphia  for  more  than  an  hour 
— and  Jewish  leaders  realize  that  the  sys- 

'  Communal  Register,  pp.  49-55,  1139-1155. 

*  The  American  born  Jew  may  become  totally  and  unreflectively 
bad,  but  usually  the  Jew  shows  a  survival  of  his  ritualistic- 
communistic  morality  in  his  scrupulous  approach  to  any  act  of 
wrong-doing.  He  always  seeks  some  show  of  sanction  for  the 
unsocial  act.  Thus,  if  he  wishes  to  repudiate  a  marriage  engage- 
ment he  persuades  himself  that  the  girl  is  anaemic  or  that  he  has 
heart  disease  and  that  the  children  will  consequently  be  unsound, 
and  seeks  a  confirmation  of  this  opinion.  A  considerable  number 
of  the  "  Bintel-Brief  "  in  the  newspaper  Forward  seek  the  editor's 
sanction  of  an  imsocial  wish.  The  writer  knows  his  motive  is  bad, 
but  is  not  sure  the  editor  will  know  it.  In  the  issue  of  February 
20,  1920,  for  example,  a  witer  represents  that  his  blind  wife  wishes 
to  separate  from  him  in  order  to  allow  him  to  pursue  a  happy 
existence,  and  seeks  the  editor's  approval  of  a  divorce. 

237 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


tematic  activities  we  have  mentioned  have 
had  as  yet  little  effect  on  the  great  mass 
of  Jewish  life.  But  in  our  examination  of 
the  Jewish  type  of  organization  we  gain  an 
impression  that  the  experiments  of  this 
community  upon  its  own  problems  contain 
an  interest  not  limited  to  the  Jewish  com- 
munity, but  extending  to  American  society 
as  a  whole.  Our  interest  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  other  immigrant  communities  is 
limited  to  the  possible  discovery  of  devices 
which  may  assist  these  groups  until  they  are 
able  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  American 
institutions.  In  the  case  of  the  Jewish 
group,  we  find  spontaneous,  intelligent,  and 
highly  organized  experiments  in  democratic 
control  which  may  assume  the  character  of 
permanent  contributions  to  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  American  state.  In  this  respect 
the  Jewish  organization  differs  completely 
from  the  Japanese  (see  Chapter  VIII), 
which  is  the  most  efficient  organization 
among  the  immigrant  groups,  but  one  based 
on  the  military  principle  of  ordering  and 
forbidding. 

THE  ITALIAN  COMSIUNITY 

Italian  leaders  frequently  point  out  that  the 
power  of  the  Italian  community  both  to 

238 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


organize  for  itself  and  to  use  American 
organizations  is  limited. 

151.  The  Italians  in  America  may  be  compared 
to  a  man  who  is  starving  in  the  midst  of  an  abundant 
supply  of  excellent  food  to  which  he  has  no  access, 
either  because  it  is  locked  away  from  him  or  because 
he  is  too  ill  to  assimilate  it,  or  because  he  feels  a 
strong  repugnance  toward  the  receptacle  that  contains 
it.i 

152.  If  the  Italians  would  do  as  the  Jews  do  we 
should  be  better  off.  The  Italian  institutions  here 
are  very  few  and  very  poor,  and  most  of  the  big 
organizations  do  nothing  to  help  them.  ...  I 
should  like  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  public  to  the  fact 
that  very  little  is  done  here  for  Italians  by  Italian 
organizations.  Such  organizations  as  the  Sons  of 
Italy  do  not  use  their  money  as  they  should.  They 
may  spend  it  in  Italy  for  private  needs  and  things. 
They  should  spend  it  here  for  American  institutions 
for  Italians.  We  should  all  unite  as  the  Jewish 
people  do.^ 

153.  Do  we  not  see  all  the  giant  strides  which 
the  Hebrew  element  is  making  in  the  conquest  of 
this  country?  It  is  true.  They  are  owners  of  busi- 
ness, banks,  and  affairs.  Israelites  are  the  lawyers, 
judges,  doctors,  professors,  teachers,  managers  of 
theaters,  the  monopolists  of  arts.  The  most  perfect 
institutions  of  mutual  aid  and  providence  are  Israelite. 
The  biggest  settlement  in  New  York  is  Israelite. 
Their  clubs,  social,  political,  artistic,  and  professional, 
are  the  best  of  their  kind.  Their  schools  are  the 
most  frequented  and  most  active.    What  wonder 

^  Joseph  Giardina,  Winning  the  Italians  for  Christ  (manuscript). 
*  Father  Bassi,  St.  Lucy's  Church,  New  York  City  (interview). 
239 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


if  they  audaciously  proclaim  themselves  the  owners, 
the  conquerers  of  this  country!  Those  who  can 
emulate  them  in  this  method  of  intellectual  and 
social  invasion  are  the  Italian  element,  which  has 
much  affinity  of  intellect  and  artistic  sensibility  with 
the  old  and  refined  Jewish  race.  But  we  must  do  as 
they  do;  we  must  thus  invade  the  schools,  teach  our- 
selves, have  our  children  taught,  open  to  them  the 
social  paths  by  means  of  the  hatchet  of  knowledge 
and  genius.  We  must  organize  our  forces  as  the 
Jews  do,  persist  in  exhausting  that  which  constitutes 
gain  for  our  race  over  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  .  .  . 

But  instead  of  this,  what  a  contrast!  The  schools 
where  the  Italian  language  is  taught  are  deserted. 
The  Italian  families  falsify  even  the  ages  of  their 
children  in  order  to  send  them  to  the  factories,  instead 
of  to  the  schools,  showing  thus  an  avarice  more  sordid 
than  that  of  the  traditional  Shylock.  There  is  not 
a  young  Italian  girl  who  knows  how  to  typewrite 
in  both  languages  and  our  men  of  affairs  must  employ 
Jewish  girls  or  Americans  for  lack  of  Italians. 

Without  being  niggardly  and  egoistic  as  the  Jew 
sometimes  is,  let  us  try  to  imitate  him  in  his  ardor 
for  conquest  and  in  the  discipline  and  knowledge 
with  which  he  knows  how  to  organize  his  admirable 
institutions,  which  put  him  in  a  position  to  raise  a 
high  voice  and  command  respect  for  the  name  of 
the  race. 

This  is  the  reason  we  have  put  at  the  head  of  this 
article  the  exhortation,  "Let  us  do  as  the  Jews."  ^ 

*  Editorial,  Bolletino  della  Sera,  November  30, 1907.  Incidentally 
this  statement  is  typical  of  the  Italian  attitude  toward  success  in 
America :  that  this  is  to  be  gained  not  by  constructive  work  in  co- 
operation with  the  American  public,  but  in  some  way  al  the  expense 
of  this  public.  It  corresponds  to  the  predatory  economic  theory 
which  preceded  Adam  Smith. 

240 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INrLUENCE 


On  the  other  hand  the  Italians  retain 
longer  than  many  other  nationalities  the 
virtues  of  the  primary-group  organization. 
Their  family  and  community  life  has  a  very 
affectionate  and  intimate  character,  and  its 
ties  usually  remain  strong  enough  to  prevent 
that  demoralization  of  the  second  genera- 
tion which  characterizes  the  Poles  and,  to 
some  extent,  the  Jews.  The  Italian  family 
tends  to  remain  solidary  long  enough  to 
secure  the  result  which  Mrs.  Leavitt  indicates 
at  the  end  of  document  103,  p.  151.  Map  10 
on  the  following  page  indicates  the  location 
of  Italian  colonies  in  New  York. 

It  is  certainly  true  that  the  spirit  of  mafia, 
camorra,  and  vendetta,  the  most  notorious 
of  the  Italian  heritages,  which  developed 
here  into  the  Black  Hand  activities,  has  had 
a  paralyzing  effect  on  the  development  of 
Italian  life.  Before  1905,  in  New  York, 
Chicago,  New  Orleans,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
wherever  Italians  were  congregated,  sys- 
tematic blackmail  and  murder  produced  a 
feeling  of  insecurity  and  terror  unfavorable 
to  all  constructive  activity: 

154.  Here  in  the  land  of  liberty,  of  labor,  of  the 
boldest  steps  in  human  progress,  there  has  originated 
and  extended  through  the  Italian  colonies  such  an 
air  of  mystery  and  terror  that  it  disturbs  the  peace 
of  families,  hampers  the  profitable  development  of 

241 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


all  the  industries,  dishonors  the  Italian  name,  and 
tends  to  prolong  that  state  of  moral  degradation 
from  which  the  lowest  social  strain  of  certain  unhappy 
regionsof  Italy  are  just  now  beginning  to  emerge.  .  .  . 


A.  "Little  Italy"  colony  from 

Piedmont 
Emilia 
Lombardy 
Venetice 

B.  69th  Street  colony  from 

Sicily,  including  the 
Cinisi  group 

C.  Bowery  colony  from 

Sicily 

Naples 

Basilica  ta 

Calabria 

Abruzzi 

Apuglia 

Genoa 

D.  Chatham  Square  colony  from 

Sicily 
Basilicata" 

E.  Washington  Square  colony  from 

Genoa 

Lombardy 

Tuscany 

Piedmont 

Venice 

Emilia 


Map  10.— Location  of  Italxan  Colonies  in  New  Yoek  Citt 
WITH  Sources  of  Emighation  in  Italy. 
242 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


Whole  Italian  families,  in  which  a  blackmailing  letter 
or  a  threat  in  another  form  has  been  received  from 
the  Black  Hand,  live  in  continued  anxiety  and  fear 
of  the  vague,  unknown,  but  always  terrible  danger 
which  hangs  over  them,  and  nobody  knows  whom 
it  will  fall  upon,  the  father,  one  of  the  children,  a 
relative,  or  all  together,  in  the  destruction  of  the 
house  or  little  store,  demolished  and  set  on  fire  by 
the  explosion  of  a  dynamite  bomb.  .  .  .  Even 
business  men  of  conspicuously  strong  character,  and 
professional  men  of  unusual  ability,  frankly  admit 
that,  after  a  threatening  letter,  a  certain  time  has 
to  pass  before  they  are  able  to  attend  to  their  busi- 
ness with  all  the  composure  and  energy  required.  .  . 

155.  In  these  last  few  years  the  number  of  threat- 
ening letters  has  been  increasing  at  an  appalling  rate, 
and  the  field  of  victims  has  been  enlarged  to  include 
all:  the  poor  laborer  who  by  means  of  great  sacri- 
fices has  succeeded  in  putting  aside  a  few  dollars,  or, 
perhaps,  bought  a  wretched  little  property  not  yet 
entirely  paid  for;  the  small  merchant  who,  with 
others  of  his  family,  is  his  own  clerk  in  his  little 
store,  and  barely  manages  to  make  a  living  from  it; 
the  proprietor  who  has  retired  from  business  and 
would  enjoy  in  peace  the  fruit  of  his  toil;  the  whole- 
sale merchant;  the  professional  man;  and  even  the 
representative  of  the  Italian  government  in  Chicago. 

The  letter  in  its  classic  form  is  short,  written  in 
an  unassuming  and  sometimes  friendly  tone.  It 
contains  the  request  for  money,  with  an  indication 
of  the  place  where  it  is  to  be  delivered,  and  a  threat, 
sometimes  veiled  by  mysterious  allusions,  and  some- 
times expressed  with  a  brutal  lack  of  reserve. 

1  La  Mano  Bianca,  p.  18.  A  report  issued  by  the  Italian  White 
Hand  Society,  Chicago,  1908. 

243 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


At  the  place  designated  the  victim  does  not  find 
anybody;  but  at  the  house  he  finds,  a  few  days  later, 
a  second  letter,  in  which  the  request  is  repeated,  also 
the  threat,  in  an  aggravated  form.  And  thus  at 
brief  intervals  comes  a  third  and  a  fourth  letter, 
each  containing  more  \nolent  threats  than  the  pre- 
ceding, expressed  either  in  words  or  symbols,  such 
as  drawings  of  pierced  hearts,  of  pistols,  daggers, 
crosses,  skulls  and  crossbones,  bombs,  etc.  All 
these  letters  are  prepared  with  a  system  of  progres- 
sion which  shows  in  the  author  a  mind  by  no  means 
crude  and  untrained,  but  shows,  rather,  a  consum- 
mate skill  acquired  by  practice  in  this  class  of  crime. 

In  this  manner  the  victim  is  intimidated  to  such  a 
point  that  there  is  not  left  in  his  veins  another  drop 
of  blood  beyond  that  needed  to  nourish  his  fear,  and 
to  enable  him,  in  such  a  depressed  condition  of  mind, 
to  lay  hold  on  the  anchor  of  salvation  which  is  pointed 
out  to  him  in  one  of  the  letters,  that  is,  to  apply  to 
"friends."  Some  phrase  in  the  letter  hints  vaguely 
at  so-called  friends;  suggests  that  whoever  seeks 
will  find;  gives  to  understand,  in  short,  that  some- 
body might  intervene  between  the  \nctim  and  the 
mysterious  and  terrible  god  that  has  made  the 
demand,  and  is  threatening  with  aU  the  thunder- 
bolts in  his  possession,  so  that  the  matter  might  be 
adjusted  in  some  way.  In  one  letter  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  "TMiite  Hand,"  this  "friend"  who  is  to 
be  thef  intermediarj',  and  who  in  reality  is  the  accom- 
plice if  not  the  author  of  the  blackmail,  is  indicated 
with  sufficient  precision.  He  must  be  a  Terminese 
from  Termini,  says  the  letter,  meaning  from  the 
town  of  Termini,  not  from  the  country,  and  must 
live  in  the  same  street  as  the  victim,  which  is  a  very 
short  street.  .  .  . 

S244 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


So  the  unfortunate  victim  finally  looks  for  the 
"friend"  who  can  save  him  from  the  threatening  peril, 
and  has  no  difficulty  whatever  in  finding  him.  For 
some  time  there  has  been  continually  at  his  side 
somebody  who  has  shown  himself  more  solicitous 
than  ever  before,  if  known  for  a  considerable  time; 
obliging  and  exceedingly  friendly,  if  of  recent  acquaint- 
ance. This  man  sometimes  guesses,  sometimes 
induces  the  other  to  tell  him  the  trouble  which  has 
destroyed  his  peace  of  mind,  and  curses  the  assassins 
who  blackmail  poor  people  and  who  ought  to  be 
himg  or  put  in  the  penitentiary.  He  knows  some 
mysterious  people,  banded  together,  who  live  and 
have  a  good  time  with  money  extorted  from  honest, 
industrious  people.  .  .  . 

The  trial  of  Schiro  before  Judge  H.  N.  Chetlain 
of  the  Chicago  court,  furnishes  very  eloquent  proof 
of  the  means  by  which  the  conscience  of  poor  people 
is  depraved,  and  the  terror  of  mysterious  societies 
of  villains  is  strengthened  and  spread  by  tyrannical 
power. 

Antonio  Schiro,  offering  his  services  to  Giovanni 
Gastello  as  a  "friend"  for  a  transaction  with  the 
authors  of  a  blackmailing  letter,  suggested  that  he 
accompany  the  offer  of  a  smaller  sum  with  a  letter 
which  would  cause  it  to  be  accepted.  He  would 
write  the  letter  himself  for  Castello,  and  in  fact  did 
write  it  and  deposited  it,  together  with  the  money, 
at  the  place  designated  by  the  mysterious  black- 
mailers. Found  when  he  was  caught,  it  was  offered 
in  evidence  at  the  trial.    It  ran  as  follows: 

"My  dear  children,  I  answer  your  dear  letter 
which  stated  that  you  wanted  this  flower.  So,  my 
dear  children,  I  cannot.  I  can  only  give  you  this 
flower  of  two  himdred  because  I  am  not  a  person  like 
17  245 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


you,  gentlemen,  believe.  You  must  excuse  me  if  I 
cannot  make  you  content  because  I  am  a  laborer  and 
have  nothing  else  to  say,  but  salute  you  friendly 
and  sign.  Your  friend  Giovanni.  You  come  and 
get  this  letter  in  the  place  you  know,  because  I  can- 
not go  there.  Good-by,  good-by  and  make  a  good 
life."  .  .  . 

The  White  Hand,  which  had  studied  all  phases 
of  those  cases  which  had  come  to  its  knowledge, 
finding  it  extremely  difficult  to  reach  the  principal 
actor,  directed  all  its  attention  toward  this  so-called 
friend  whose  conduct  and  explanations  gave  some 
clue  which  might  furnish  a  more  or  less  substantial 
proof  of  his  participation  in  the  crime.  Then  the 
tactics  of  these  criminals  were  changed,  and  to  the 
common  "friend"  of  the  blackmailed  and  the  black- 
mailer was  assigned  the  role  of  enemy  of  the  latter, 
under  the  necessity  of  submitting  to  a  humiliation, 
the  humiliation  of  being  obliged  himself  to  carry  to 
the  feet  of  the  powerful  and  mysterious  god  the 
tribute  of  the  money  extorted  and  the  homage  of 
his  own  obedience. 

In  this  way  every  weapon  of  the  prosecution  is 
broken.  The  go-between  did  not  offer  himself,  he 
was  appealed  to;  he  always  advised  against  yielding 
to  the  imposition;  he  refused  to  intervene;  they 
begged  him  to,  entreated,  implored;  he  yielded  out 
of  consideration  for  his  friend,  being  himself  a  victim 
of  the  oppression  of  the  same  mysterious  enemy. 
And  in  the  face  of  this  evidence,  in  fact,  no  jury  can 
find  him  guilty.  .  . 

156.  This  type  of  crime  has  been  carried  on  to 
such  an  extent  that,  though  the  majority  of  those  in 
the  colony  are  honest  and  industrious  laborers, 


1  La  Mano  Blanco,  pp.  11-16,  passim. 

246 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


nearly  every  one  seems  to  feel  that  he  is  in  constant 
danger  of  either  becoming  the  victim  of  a  plot  or 
of  being  forced  to  involve  himself  with  the  gang. 

Continental  Italians  and  those  of  other  nation- 
alities who  live  in  the  district  may  own  well-stocked 
stores  or  acquire  a  reputation  for  wealth,  but  are 
never  molested  or  threatened,  but  a  Sicilian  who 
shows  any  sign  of  prosperity  almost  invariably 
begins  to  receive  threatening  letters  and,  though  a 
love  of  display  is  a  national  characteristic,  few  have 
the  courage  to  raise  their  standard  of  living  as  long 
as  they  continue  to  live  in  the  district.  The  streets 
lying  in  the  heart  of  the  colony  are  thought  to  be 
centers  of  danger,  so  there  has  been  a  tendency  to 
move  toward  the  boundaries,  or  a  few  blocks  beyond, 
and  families  that  have  done  so  have  a  sense  of  security, 
though  they  still  live  within  easy  walking  distance 
and  return  daily  to  visit  friends,  attend  church, 
patronize  the  shops,  etc. 

In  the  district  itself  it  is  considered  very  bad  form 
to  discuss  these  affairs.  No  one  alludes  to  them 
voluntarily,  or  in  plain  terms  speaks  of  a  murder. 
A  murdered  man  is  spoken  of  as  the  "poor  disgraced 
one,"  and  the  murders  or  persecutions  as  "trouble." 
Certain  men  are  called  "mafiosi,"  but  this  generally 
means  only  that  they  are  domineering,  swaggering, 
and  fearless,  and  no  one  would  think  of  making  a 
direct  accusation.  There  are  men  who  are  said  to 
be  "imwilling  to  work  for  their  bread,"  and  certain 
names  are  never  mentioned  without  a  significant 
raising  of  eyebrows.  The  term  Black  Hand  is  never 
used  except  jokingly,  nor  does  one  hear  the  words 
vendetta,  omerta  orjeudo,  though  every  one  is  imbued 
with  the  sentiments  for  which  they  stand.  In  the 
whole  colony  there  is  no  one  so  despised  as  an  informer, 

247 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


nor  is  it  thought  desirable  to  show  an  interest  in 
another's  private  affairs.  There  is  a  general  belief 
that  men  who  are  murdered  usually  deserve  their 
fate.  Murdered  men  are  not  buried  from  the  church 
imless  a  large  sum  is  paid  for  a  special  mass. 

The  American  press  and  police  attribute  all  these 
"Italian  killings"  to  the  Black  Hand  and  consider 
them  inevitable.  Every  so  often  the  newspapers 
print  an  interview  with  a  police  official  in  which  a 
certain  number  of  murders  are  prophesied  to  occur 
in  this  district,  and  the  public  are  given  to  under- 
stand that  the  situation  is  hopeless.  WTben  a  murder 
is  committed  it  is  either  reported  as  a  minor  occur- 
rence in  a  single  paragraph,  or  absurdly  elaborated 
in  highly  romantic  style.  A  few  years  ago  the  chief 
of  police,  on  being  urged  to  have  a  careful  study 
made  of  the  situation,  dismissed  the  matter  by  saying, 
"  Oh,  we've  always  had  trouble  up  there;  they  never 
bother  anyone  but  each  other."  ^ 

The  Italian  community  had  no  power  of 
organization  to  combat  a  practice  which 
was  traditional  and  operated  like  one  of  the 
laws  of  nature.  The  Italian  press  got  as 
much  news  value  as  possible  out  of  the 
situation,  and  threw  the  blame  on  the  Amer- 
icans, claiming  that  they  admitted  too  many 
Italian  criminals,  and  that  the  American 
police  and  court  systems  were  defective  in 
comparison  with  the  Italian.^    But  grad- 

*  Marie  Lea^^tt,  Report  on  the  Sicilian  Colony  in  Chicago 
(manuscript). 

'  Both  of  these  claims  were  in  fact  true.  The  majority  of 
Sicilian  criminals  have  probablv  been  at  one  time  or  another  in 

248 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


ually  as  the  practice  became  epidemic, 
affecting  all  classes  of  Italians,  and  involving 
Americans  also,  the  Italian  community  and 
the  American  police  were  forced  by  public 
opinion  into  an  alliance  which  succeeded  in 
abating  the  evil. 

the  United  States,  and  American  laws  (with  jury  sj'stem,  techni- 
calities safeguarding  the  rights  of  the  accused,  etc.)  are  not  adapted 
to  dealing  with  the  Sicilian  character. 

"The  United  States  has  become  the  refuge  of  all  the  delinquents 
and  the  bandits  of  Italy,  of  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Calabria.  About 
a  year  ago  the  authorities  of  Tunis  decided  to  cleanse  the  Italian 
quarter  of  that  city  where  there  were  a  great  number  of  crimes. 
The  French  government  proceeded  to  make  a  rigorous  inquest 
which  resulted  in  the  expulsion  of  10,000  Italians  from  that  country. 
Where  did  that  flower  of  manhood  go?  They  were  welcomed  with 
open  arms  by  Uncle  Sam.  .  .  .  Our  Penal  Code  should  be  made 
more  severe.  The  worst  with  immigrants  who  come  here  from 
Italy,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Calabria  is  that  they  do  not  know 
how  to  use  the  liberty  which  is  enjoyed  in  this  country.  .  .  ." — 
Statement  of  Lieutenant  Petrosino,  Head  of  the  Italian  De- 
tective Bureau,  New  York  City,  BoUetino  della  Sera,  January  7, 
1908. 

"To  a  certain  type  of  Italian  criminal,  who  in  his  native  land 
lives  in  continual  dread  of  the  carabineers,  the  guards  of  public 
safety,  the  civic  guards,  and  even  the  rural  and  forest  guards,  any 
one  of  whom  may  appear  at  his  very  bedside  any  hour  of  the 
night  to  make  sure  that  he  is  at  home  from  sunset  until  dawn, 
this  coimtry  where  such  an  abundance  of  guardians  of  the  peace 
is  replaced  only  by  the  policeman,  often  nothing  but  a  creature  of 
politics,  cannot  fail  to  appear  as  the  promised  land. 

"To  a  certain  type  of  Italian  criminal,  who,  when  mysterious 
crimes  are  committed,  is  liable  to  be  locked  up  in  jail  as  a  suspect, 
sometimes  even  for  months,  simply  because  he  is  recognized  as 
being  capable  of  committing  crime,  this  country,  where  hold-ups, 
thugs  plying  their  trade  in  the  most  prominent  streets,  or  in  the 
elevated  railroad  stations  and  street  cars,  night  riders  and  lynchers, 
so  often  escape  justice,  cannot  fail  to  appear  as  a  most  fertile 
vineyard,  easy  of  cultivation  for  one  willing  to  take  chances." — 
La  Mano  Bianca,  p.  i. 

249 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


We  are  unable  to  trace  the  whole  history 
of  this  reform  movement,  but  the  following 
data,  from  one  of  the  Italian  newspapers 
published  in  New  York,  indicate  the  gradual 
modification  of  the  attitude  of  the  Italians: 

157.  In  April,  1903,  a  murdered  man  was  fomid 
in  a  barrel  at  Avenue  A  and  Eleventh  Street,  New 
York.  The  Italian  detectives  arrested  twelve  Sicil- 
ians. The  American  newspapers  had  full  accoimts 
and  articles  abusive  of  the  Italians  and  the  Black 
Hand.^  The  ItaHan  pai>ers  protested  violently  against 
the  blackening  of  the  Italian  name.  The  Bollettino 
claimed  that  "the  fear  of  the  mafia  is  in  great  part  a 
product  of  the  reporter's  fancy."  ^ 

During  1903  and  1904  the  publicity  given  these 
crimes  seemed  merely  to  augment  them.  The 
Bollettino  resented  the  fact  that  "that  odious  word 
'mafia'  is  continually  thrown  in  our  faces,"  quoted 
American  newspai>er  accounts  of  American  lawless- 
ness— the  feuds  of  the  Kentucky  mountains,  etc. — 
and  criticized  the  inefficiency  of  the  American  police.' 

"Do  the  Europ)ean  newspapers  say  that  the  good 
Londoners  are  hyenas  who  suck  the  blood  from  the 
torn  flesh  of  women,  and  that  of  all  their  sp)orts  the 
Americans  prefer  that  of  holding  up  trains,  robbing 
the  passengers,  jjerhaps  kilhng  them,  and  dynamiting 
safes?" * 

On  October  18,  1905,  the  Bollettino  pubUshed  a 
statement  of  Lieutenant  Petrosino  that  he  needed 
more  men,  that  there  were  30,000  members  of  the 
Black  Hand  in  America,  and  that  the  only  way  to 

1  Bollettino  delta  Sera,  April  16.  1903. 
«  Ibid.,  April  17,  22,  27,  May  11,  1903. 

'  Ibid.,  Julv  24,  December  23,  1903.        *  Ibid..  May  7.  1903. 
250 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


deal  with  them  was  to  deport  their  leaders.  The 
municipal  council  of  Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  offered 
$1,000  for  information  as  to  headquarters  of  the  Black 
Hand  in  that  city.^ 

July  10,  1905,  the  Bollettino,  referring  to  the  Black 
Hand,  "which  is  said  to  have  infiltrated  itself  among 
the  workmen  of  the  Croton  aqueduct,"  advised 
Italians  not  to  communicate  details  to  the  American 
reporters  but  to  the  Italian  consul  general.  Sep- 
tember 27,  1905,  a  Black  Hand  case  appeared  for 
the  first  time  on  the  second  page  of  the  Bollettino. 
Heretofore  these  cases  had  appeared  on  the  first  page. 

September  10,  1906,  the  Bollettino  reprinted  from 
the  Tribuna  Italiana,  Chicago,  an  account  of  the 
outbreak  of  a  vendetta  during  a  religious  procession 
in  Chicago  and  "the  dragging  of  the  Italian  name 
in  the  dirt."  Both  papers  asked:  "When  will  this 
end?"  "Another  Sunday  like  the  past  will  see  the 
proposal  not  of  one  plan,  but  of  ten,  to  exclude  Italian 
emigrants  from  America." 

In  1907  the  "activities"  increased.  "There  is 
not  a  day  that  we  are  not  compelled  to  record  in 
increasing  numbers  deeds  so  horrible  as  to  redden 
the  faces  of  this  puritanical  people.  To-day  threat- 
ening letters,  to-morrow  murder,  then  kidnapping, 
following  the  explosion  of  bombs,  and  thus  ...  we 
proceed  upon  the  path  of  crime.  "^  Judge  Roberto 
Cortese,  of  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  received  an  infernal 
machine  through  the  mail  and  was  blown  to  pieces. 
He  had  aided  the  police  in  connection  with  Black 
Hand  cases.  A  protest  meeting  of  500  was  led  by 
Italians;  $10,000  was  raised  to  aid  in  the  search  for 
the  criminals,  and  in  addition  the  Municipal  Council 

1  Bollettino  delta  Sera,  January  11,  1906. 

2  Ihid..  January  30,  1907. 

251 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


of  Paterson  contributed  $2,000,  the  Passaic  Board 
of  Freeholders,  $1,000,  the  State  Camp  Woodmen, 
$2,500,  etc.i 

The  year  1908  shows  the  highest  number  of  Black 
Hand  activities.  The  Bollettino  records  311  cases. 
Two  columns  in  the  Bollettino  (January  25,  1908) 
call  on  Italians  to  rise  up  and  put  a  stop  to  the  crimes 
which  are  besmirching  the  Itahan  name,  and  call 
a  mass  meeting  to  effect  an  organization.  An  edi- 
torial headed  "The  Cry  of  Alarm,"  January  28th, 
warned  that  the  doors  of  this  country  would  be 
closed  to  Italians.  At  the  meeting  a  society  of 
over  300  was  formed — "Association  de  Vigilanza  e 
Protezione  Italiana" — and  jSIr.  Frugone,  editor  of 
the  Bollettino,  was  made  president.^ 

"In  many  places  employers  are  beginning  to  refuse 
to  take  Itahans."^  The  plirase,  "It  is  about  time 
to  quit  it,"  became  current  in  Italian  newspapers.* 
The  Bollettino,  commenting  on  a  case  where  a  man 
went  to  jail  rather  than  disclose  the  name  of  a  black- 
mailer, gave  ad\'ice  which  proved  very  important 
later — to  carry  information  to  the  pohce.^  Com- 
menting on  a  law  proposed  in  West  Virginia  to  exclude 
Italians  from  the  state,  the  Bollettino  said  the  Italians 
bade  fair  to  be  classed  with  the  Chinese.'  The 
Bollettino  printed  a  letter  from  the  King  of  Italy  to 
an  Italian  pohceman  commending  him  for  bravery 
in  fighting  the  bad  Itahan  element  in  Pittsburgh.' 
The  Bollettino  pointed  out  that  Italians  were  afraid 
to  inform  the  police  of  threatening  letters,  because 
the  pohce  were  unable  to  protect  them,  cited  the 

1  Bollettino  della  Sera,  February  10-14,  1907. 
=  Ibid..  February  7,  1908.  '  Ibid..  March  21,  1908. 

'  Ibid.,  January  SO,  1908.  «  Ibid.,  March  30,  1908. 

*  Ibid.,  February  17,  1908.  '  Ibid..  May  8,  1908. 

252 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


case  of  Mr.  Spinella,  and  translated  a  communica- 
tion sent  by  him  to  the  Times  in  July,  showing  that 
he  informed  the  police  of  threats,  and  his  house  was 
nevertheless  dynamited  six  times. ^  The  Bollettino 
printed  a  notice,  "Against  the  Black  Hand,"  advising 
all  honest  Italians  to  aid  Commissioner  Bingham 
by  sending  him,  marked  "personal,"  all  threatening 
letters,  and  information  about  Black  Handers  and 
idle  Itahans,  with  a  description  of  individuals.^ 
Lieut.  Giuseppe  Petrosino  was  killed  in  Palermo. 
The  Bollettino  placed  the  blame  on  the  chief  of  police 
for  revealing  the  fact  that  Petrosino  was  in  Italy 
A  law  was  passed  in  Albany  making  punishment  for 
kidnapping  fifty  years  in  prison.^ 

Rizzo,  who  killed  three  children  in  an  attempt  to 
extort  money  from  their  father,  went  to  the  electric 
chair.^  Lupo,  leader  of  a  gang,  was  sentenced  to 
thirty  years,  and  members  of  that  gang  were  given 
heavy  sentences.*  The  Itahan  dailies  attacked  the 
Italian  Civic  League  because  it  was  collaborating 
too  much  with  Americans — under  the  guise  of  defend- 
ing the  Italian  name  it  called  in  Americans  to  discuss 
how  to  deal  wdth  Italian  criminals.^  Professor 
Pecorni  of  the  Italian  Civic  League,  admitted  that 
the  league  could  do  nothing  unless  aided  by  the 
poUce.  He  blamed  the  police  for  not  deporting  the 
700  criminals  listed  by  Petrosino  and  Vaccarezza.^ 
The  Bollettino  and  many  Italian  societies  protested 
against  the  use  of  the  word  "Italian"  by  the  Amer- 

'  Bollettino  della  Sera,  September  6,  1908. 

2  Ibid..  January  12, 1909.    '  Ibid.,  December  17, 19, 27,  etc.,  1910. 

5  Ibid.,  March  13,  1909.     « Ibid.,  December  17, 1910. 

*  Ibid.,  April  6,  1909. 

5  Ibid..  November  22,  1909. 

0  Ibid.  February  21,  1910. 

253 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


ican  press  in  describing  a  criminal.  A  coupon  was 
run  daily  in  the  Bollettino:  "We  protest  in  the  use 
of  the  word  'Italian'  in  the  American  press  on  any 
news  item  detrimental  to  our  coimtrymen,"  to  be 
signed  and  returned  to  the  editor;^  and  in  June, 
1911,  Mr.  Frugone  carried  the  protest  to  over  1,000 
Italian  lodges  and  50  newspapers  to  the  convention 
of  newspaper  managers  in  Chicago.^ 

The  postoffice  inspectors  were  instructed  to  watch 
the  mails  for  Black  Hand  letters.^  Italians  protested 
against  the  action  of  the  poUce  commissioner  in 
abolishing  the  Italian  detective  squad.  The  Bol- 
lettino printed  an  article  in  English,  by  Mr.  Palmieri, 
in  which  he  said  in  substance: 

"Commissioner  Waldo  has  injured  the  Italian 
colony  by  abolishing  the  detective  squad,  which  sent 
back  such  dangerous  criminals  as  Enrico  Alfono, 
chief  of  the  camorra  in  Italy.  The  Italian  criminals 
find  a  haven  here,  with  weak  policing  and  immigra- 
tion oflBcials  easily  evaded.  Lieutenant  Petrosino 
died  to  perform  the  great  duty  of  listing  dangerous 
Italian  criminals.  Lieutenant  Vaccarezza  now  has 
worthily  succeeded  him.  There  are  in  New  York 
600,000  Italians,  and  there  were  only  60  men  to 
police  them.  Now  Commissioner  Waldo  abolishes 
these.  The  Italian  colony  is  sad.  The  Italian 
merchants  once  responded  to  the  call  for  fimds  and 
will  do  so  again;  but  a  proper  squad  of  Italian  detec- 
tives is  necessary,  men  who  are  familiar  with  the 
dialects,  customs,  habits,  and  methods  of  the  crim- 
inals who  prey  on  the  Italian  people  by  blackmailing, 
extortion,    kidnapping,   and   other   outrages.  Let 


»  Bollettino  delta  Sera,  April  5.  1911. 
^Ibid..3ime  15, 1911. 

25i 


» Ibid.,  AprU  3. 1911. 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


us  not  throw  away  valuable  information.  Let  us 
not  waste  time,  but  restore  the  detective  squad."  * 

"The  ItaHan  government  is  right  in  saying  that 
the  blame  for  the  increase  of  the  Black  Hand  is  on 
the  United  States.  Nowhere  in  the  world  does  this 
organization  flourish  as  here  in  America.  Lieutenant 
Vaccarezza  is  right.  The  dissolution  of  his  secret 
poUce  department  has  increased  the  outrages.  As 
long  as  the  Black  Hand  is  stronger  than  the  police 
the  mass  of  ignorant  Italians  will  put  their  faith 
in  settlements  with  the  malefactors  rather  than  rely 
on  New  York  police.  .  .  .  The  police  cannot  obtain 
the  confidence  of  the  people  until  they  (1)  re-estab- 
lish the  Italian  detective  bureau;  (2)  scrutinize 
passports;  (3)  agree  with  the  Italian  government 
as  to  precautions  to  keep  criminals  from  the  United 
States."  2 

"...  We  cannot  command  respect  unless  we 
abolish  this  criminality  among  us.  We  often  have 
to  say  we  are  French,  or  Spanish,  or  Turks,  to  hold  a 
job.  Think  what  a  disgrace  these  Black  Handers 
have  brought  upon  us!  The  Americans  are  too  good 
to  us,  too  tolerant,  but  their  limit  is  reached.  They 
are  passing  laws  to  hit  us  directly.  Why  not  quit 
it?  We  should  appreciate  this  country.  In  Italy 
we  could  hardly  dare  to  do  what  we  do  here.  This 
tumor  is  of  course  produced  by  the  corrupt  New 
York  pohce,  but  let  us  do  our  part  to  cut  it  out."  ^ 

In  1909  the  Black  Hand  activities  had 
begun  to  decline,  owing  to  the  efforts  of  the 
Italian  press  and  organizations,  severer  laws, 

1  Bollettino  della  Sera,  July  14.  1911. 

2  Ibid..  September  2,  1911.  '  Ibid.,  September  18,  1911. 

255 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

extraordinary  earnestness  in  the  police  de- 
partment following  the  murder  of  Petrosino, 
and,  above  all,  the  disposition  of  the  Italians 
to  follow  the  advice  of  their  newspapers 
and  communicate  information  to  Commis- 
sioner Bingham,  "if  not  openly,  then  secretly 
or  anonymously."  In  1909  there  were  205 
activities  as  against  311  in  1908;  in  1910, 
128  activities.  When  the  Italian  squad 
was  dispersed  in  1911  (owing,  as  the  Italians 
claimed,  to  corruption  and  vanity  in  the 
police  department),  the  activities  were  re- 
newed; but  they  were  met  with  more 
resistance,  because  the  Italian  people  had 
learned  to  have  some  confidence  in  the  police 
and  obey  their  leaders.  Consequently  the 
Black  Handers  were  compelled  to  use  more 
bombs  than  ever  before  in  order  to  intimidate 
their  victims.  In  1908  only  20  bombs 
were  exploded,  because  their  victims  settled 
readily.  In  1909  and  1910  less  than  20 
bombs  were  used,  but  in  1911,  while  there 
were  only  95  activities,  79  bombs  were 
used.  Between  August  5  and  September 
25,  1911  (shortly  after  the  abolition  of  the 
Italian  detective  bureau),  25  bombs  were 
used.  In  1912  there  were  85  activities  and 
81  bombs;  in  1913,  100  activities  and  173 
bombs.  In  the  first  twenty  days  of  January, 
1913,  there  were  17  bombs  recorded.  Fol- 

256 


TYPES  OF  COMMUNITY  INFLUENCE 


lowing  the  persistent  protests  of  Italians, 
the  Italian  detective  squad  was  restored, 
in  July,  1913,  In  1914  there  were  only  32 
combined  activities  and  bombs,  and  in  1915 
Italian  crime  became  "normal"  in  New 
York. 

There  is  one  particularly  instructive  feature 
in  this  record  of  Italian  crime:  while  there 
was  bad  feeling  between  the  Italian  public 
and  the  American  public,  neither  side  could 
accomplish  a  reform  without  the  participa- 
tion of  the  other.  A  reading  of  the  whole 
record  impresses  us  with  the  fact  that  the 
Italian  public  responded  as  readily  as  was 
reasonable  to  their  leaders'  efforts  to  induce 
them  to  resist  their  tormentors.  In  the 
first  place,  one  of  the  characteristic  heritages 
of  the  southern  Italian  is  a  strong  repugnance 
to  any  sort  of  co-operation  with  the  state. 
Further,  the  Black- Handers  always  made 
good  their  threats.  There  are  cases  recorded 
where  a  man  is  killed  at  the  hour  and  minute 
appointed;^  where  a  man  who  betrayed  his 
gang  in  Palermo  is  followed  through  the 
Transvaal,  Australia,  South  America,  and 
killed  after  ten  years  in  a  Brooklyn  dance 
hall;  2  where  a  man  who  has  testified  in 
court  asks  for  twenty  years  of  the  peniten- 

'  Bollettino  dela  Sera,  April  15,  1912. 
2  Ibid.,  May  19, 1913. 

257 


OLD  WOIIIJ)  'rilAITS  TRANSrLANTED 

tiary  because  that  means  twenty  years  of 
life.'  '^riitTo  is  no  sucli  (;(;rtil  ii(l<r  in  \]ni 
operations  of  IIk;  law  or  of  the  police.  Tlic 
Italians  licM  with  the  police  as  soon  as  tlM;y 
felt  any  degree  of  safety  in  doing  ho,  and 
after  they  had  tak(;n  this  af  f.itiid(^  they 
persisted  in  it  even  when  tlu^  i>onc(!  (hs- 
banded  for  a  time  the  organization  in  which 
the  Italians  had  most  confidence — the  Italian 
detective  squad. 

>  DoUeUino  Mia  Sera.  .lunimry  tU.  1010. 


IX 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 

Immigration  in  the  form  it  has  taken  in 
America  differs  from  all  previous  move- 
ments of  population.  Populous  countries 
have  planted  colonies,  states  have  been 
conquered  and  occupied,  slaves  have  been 
imported.  But  when  a  single  country  is 
peacefully  invaded  by  millions  of  men  from 
scores  of  other  countries,  when  there  are 
added  to  one  American  city  as  many  Jews 
as  there  are  Danes  in  Denmark,  and  to  the 
same  city  more  Italians  than  there  are 
Italians  in  Rome,  we  have  something  new 
in  history. 

Natm-ally  the  mass  and  quality  of  this 
immigration  is  important  to  us  because  it 
cannot  fail  to  have  an  influence  on  our 
whole  system  of  life.  Every  country  must 
have  an  organization  for  securing  order  and 
efliciency,  not  only  to  insure  the  happiness 
and  prosperity  of  its  citizens  within  its 
boundaries,  but  also  to  protect  it  from  for- 
eign attack.    The  various  nationalities  and 

259 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


civilizations  of  the  world  are  in  a  state  of 
rivalry,  and  a  low  efficiency  in  any  country 
may  lead  to  its  destruction,  actual  or  eco- 
nomic. Our  wish  to  assimilate  the  immi- 
grants who  remain  here  means  that  we  want 
to  make  them  a  practical  part  of  our  organ- 
ization. 

There  is  an  interesting  parallel  between 
the  influence  which  a  country  wishes  to 
exercise  over  its  members  and  the  influence 
of  what  geographers  and  naturalists  call  an 
"area  of  characterization."  In  the  natural 
world  an  area  of  characterization  is  a  geo- 
graphical region  sufficiently  marked  in  its 
physical  features  to  put  a  characteristic 
imprint  on  its  flora  and  fauna.  In  the  same 
way,  the  human  inhabitants  of  a  country 
develop  a  body  of  characteristic  values.  A 
country  is  an  area  of  cultural  characteriza- 
tion. 

EEQUIRED  IN  A  DEMOCRACY 

Among  the  distinguishing  features  of  the 
American  "area  of  characterization"  is  the 
principle  that  no  man  is  to  be  used  as  a  tool 
and  thus  placed  in  the  category  of  purely 
material  values,  and  we  have  consequently 
repudiated  the  ancient  conception  of  the 
state,  in  which  by  a  system  of  "ordering 
and  forbidding"  great  things  were  achieved, 

260 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


indeed,  but  only  by  keeping  the  masses 
permanently  in  the  category  of  things. 

Our  state  system  is  based  on  the  partic- 
ipation of  every  member  and  assumes  in 
all  the  wish  and  ability  to  participate;  for 
in  the  last  analysis  we  mean  by  democracy 
participation  by  all,  both  practically  and 
imaginatively,  in  the  common  life  of  the 
community.  Our  democracy  is  not  work- 
ing perfectly  at  present  because  not  even 
the  native  born  are  participating  com- 
pletely. Our  old  order  was  a  territorial 
one.  The  autonomy  of  the  political  and 
social  groups  was  based  on  size  and  geo- 
graphical isolation.  So  long  as  the  group 
remained  small  and  isolated,  individuals 
were  able  to  act  responsibly,  because  the 
situations  they  dealt  with  came  easily  within 
their  understanding  and  capacity.  But  the 
free  communication  provided  by  the  loco- 
motive, the  post,  the  telegraph,  the  press, 
has  dissolved  distances.  As  a  result  men 
find  themselves  in  a  system  of  relationships, 
political  and  economic,  over  which,  in  spite 
of  their  traditional  liberties  of  speech  and  ac- 
tion, they  no  longer  have  control.  The  con- 
ditions of  their  daily  living  are  vitally  affected 
by  events  occurring  without  their  knowledge, 
thousands  of  miles  away. 

It  is  siinilarly  impossible  for  average 

18  «61 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


citizens  to  grasp  all  the  elements  of  the 
political  issues  on  which  they  give  decisions. 
The  economic  nexus  holds  them  in  an 
inevitable  interdependence;  they  are  polit- 
ically disfranchised  while  retaining  the  cer- 
emony of  a  vote.  No  longer  able  to  act 
intelligently  or  responsibly,  they  act  upon 
vagrant  impulses.  They  are  directed  by 
suggestion  and  advertising.  This  is  the 
meaning  of  social  unrest.  It  is  the  sign  of 
a  baflSed  wish  to  participate.  It  represents 
energy,  and  the  problem  is  to  use  it  con- 
structively. While  we  are  forming  a  new 
definition  of  the  situation,  we  are  subject 
to  emotional  states  and  random  movements. 

The  founders  of  America  defined  the 
future  state  as  a  democracy  characterized 
by  the  largest  possible  amount  of  individual 
freedom,  but  this  ideal  has  not  been  fully 
realized.  At  best  we  can  say  that  we  are  in 
the  process  of  giving  this  country  the  cultural 
characterization  of  such  a  democracy. 

While  we  have  on  our  hands  this  problem 
we  are  importing  large  numbers  of  aliens, 
representing  various  types,  in  the  main 
below  our  cultural  level.  Some  of  them 
bring  a  greater  and  more  violent  unrest  than 
we  know  here :  psychoses  acquired  under  con- 
ditions where  violence  was  the  only  means 
of   political   participation.    Others  belong 

262 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 

to  the  nationalistic,  opportunistic,  or  in 
fewer  numbers  to  the  radical  elements,  who 
not  only  do  not  regard  this  country  as  their 
country,  but  do  not  regard  it  as  a  country 
at  all — do  not  recognize  that  we  have  a 
characteristic  body  of  values  and  the  right 
to  preserve  these  values. 

The  immigrant  usually  brings  a  value 
which  is  very  important  to  us — labor — and 
it  would  be  possible  to  regard  him  in  a  nar- 
rowly practical  way  as  a  merely  material 
value,  just  as  the  negro  in  slavery  and 
Chinese  labor  in  earlier  days  were  regarded 
as  material  values,  and  as  the  Germans 
regarded  the  600,000  laborers  from  Austria 
and  Russia  who  crossed  their  borders 
annually  and  returned  to  their  homes  at 
the  end  of  the  harvest  season.  But  we 
know  from  oiu-  experience  with  slavery  and 
from  the  German  experiences  with  the 
Sachsengdnger,  that  this  attitude  has  a  bad 
effect  both  on  the  aliens  and  on  the  culture 
of  the  group  which  receives  and  uses  them 
as  mere  things.  If  visitors  are  disorderly, 
unsanitary,  or  ignorant,  the  group  which 
incorporates  them,  even  temporarily,  will 
not  escape  the  bad  effects  of  this. 

Every  country  has  a  certain  amount  of 
culturally  undeveloped  material.  We  have 
it,  for  instance,  in  the  Negroes  and  Indians, 

263 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


the  Southern  mountameers,  the  Mexicans 
and  Spanish-Americans,  and  the  slums. 
There  is  a  hmit,  however,  to  the  amount  of 
material  of  this  kind  that  a  country  can 
incorporate  without  losing  the  character 
of  its  culture.  For  example,  the  "three 
R's"  represent  our  minimum  of  cultural 
equipment,  and  we  are  able  to  transmit 
this  much  to  practically  everybody.  With 
this  equipment  the  individual  is  able  to 
penetrate  any  sphere  of  life;  without  it, 
he  cannot  move  upward  at  all.  But  if  we 
should  receive,  say,  a  million  Congo  blacks 
and  a  million  Chinese  coolies  annually,  and 
if  they  should  propagate  faster  than  the 
white  Americans,  it  is  certain  that  our 
educational  system  would  break  down;  we 
could  not  impart  even  the  "three  R's." 
We  should  then  be  in  a  state  of  chaos  unless 
we  abandoned  the  idea  of  democracy  and 
secured  efficiency  by  reverting  to  the  "order- 
ing and  forbidding  "  type  of  state. 

This  is  the  general  significance  of  immi- 
gration to  our  problem  of  democracy.  We 
must  make  the  immigrants  a  working  part 
in  our  system  of  life,  ideal  and  political,  as 
well  as  economic,  or  lose  the  character  of 
our  culture.  Self-preservation  makes  this 
necessary;  the  fact  that  they  bring  valuable 

additions  to  our  culture  makes  it  desirable. 

fm 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 

Now  we  can  assimilate  the  immigrants  only 
if  their  attitudes  and  values,  their  ideas  on 
the  conduct  of  life,  are  brought  into  harmony 
with  our  own.  They  cannot  be  intelligent 
citizens  unless  they  "get  the  hang"  of 
American  ways  of  thinking  as  well  as  of 
doing.  How  fast  and  how  well  this  is 
accomplished  depends  (1)  on  the  degree 
of  similarity  between  their  attitudes  and 
values  and  our  own,  giving  them  a  certain 
preadaptation  to  our  scheme  of  life  and  an 
ability  to  aid  in  their  own  Americaniza- 
tion; and  (2)  on  how  we  treat  them — 
our  attitude  toward  their  heritages.  These 
are,  roughly,  the  elements  in  our  problem 
of  assimilation. 

SIMILARITY  OF  HERITAGES 

It  is  one  of  the  ordinary  experiences  of  social 
intercourse  that  words  and  things  do  not 
have  the  same  meanings  with  different 
people,  in  different  periods  of  time,  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  a  country — that  is,  in  general, 
in  different  contexts.  The  same  "thing" 
has  a  different  meaning  for  the  naive  person 
and  the  sophisticated  person,  for  the  child 
and  the  philosopher.  The  new  experience 
derives  its  significance  from  the  character 
and  interpretation  of  previous  experiences. 
To  the  peasant  a  comet,  a  plague,  an  epileptic 

265 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


person,  may  mean,  respectively,  a  divine 
portent,  a  visitation  of  God,  a  possession 
by  the  devil;  to  the  scientist  they  mean 
something  quite  different.  The  word  slavery 
had  a  connotation  in  the  ancient  world  very 
different  from  the  one  it  bears  to-day.  It 
has  a  different  significance  to-day  in  the 
Southern  and  Northern  states.  "Socialism" 
has  a  very  different  significance  to  the 
immigrant  from  the  Russian  pale  living  on 
the  "East  Side"  of  New  York  City,  to  the 
citizen  on  Riverside  Drive,  and  to  the  native 
American  in  the  hills  of  Georgia. 

The  meaning  any  word  has  for  an  indi- 
vidual depends  on  his  past  experience,  not 
only  with  the  thing  the  word  means,  but 
with  many  other  things  associated  with  it 
in  his  mind.  For  example,  the  concept 
evoked  in  his  mind  by  the  word  "food"  is 
determined  not  only  by  the  kinds  of  food 
lie  has  eaten,  but  also  by  the  normal  state 
of  his  appetite  and  digestion,  the  ease  or 
difficulty  with  which  he  secures  his  daily 
ration,  whether  he  grows,  hunts,  or  buys  it, 
whether  or  not  he  prepares  it,  whether  he 
has  ever  been  near  starvation,  and  so  forth. 
No  two  people  have  exactly  the  same  expe- 
rience by  which  to  define  the  same  word, 
and  sometimes  the  resulting  difference  in 
meaning  is  immeasurably  great.    This  is 

266 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


the  meaning  of  the  saying  of  the  logicians 
that  persons  who  attach  different  meanings 
to  the  same  words  and  the  same  things  are 
in  different  "universes  of  discourse," — that 
is,  do  not  talk  in  the  same  world. 

All  the  meanings  of  past  experience  re- 
tained in  the  memory  of  the  individual 
form  what  is  called  by  psychologists  the 
"apperception  mass."  It  is  the  body  of 
memories  with  which  every  new  item  of 
experience  comes  in  contact,  to  which  it 
is  related,  and  in  connection  with  which  it 
gets  its  meaning.  The  difference  in  the 
interpretation  of  words  is  merely  an  example 
of  the  fact  that  persons  whose  apperception 
masses  are  radically  different  give  a  different 
interpretation  to  all  experience.  The  eccle- 
siastic, the  artist;  the  mystic,  the  scientist; 
the  Philistine,  the  Bohemian — are  examples 
of  classes  not  always  mutually  intelligible. 
Similarly,  different  races  and  nationalities, 
as  wholes,  represent  different  apperception 
masses  and  consequently  different  universes  of 
discourse,  and  are  not  mutually  intelligible. 
Even  our  forefathers  are  with  difficulty  in- 
telligible to  us,  though  always  more  intelligible 
than  the  eastern  European  immigrant,  be- 
cause of  the  continuity  of  our  tradition. 

The  set  of  attitudes  and  values,  which 
we  call  the  immigrant's  heritage,  are  the 

267 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


expression  in  ideas  and  action  of  his  apper- 
ception mass.  "Heritages"  differ  because 
the  races  and  nationalities  concerned  have 
developed  different  apperception  masses; 
and  they  have  developed  different  apper- 
ception masses  because,  owing  to  histor- 
ical circumstances,  they  have  defined  the 
situation  in  different  ways.  (See  Chapter  II.) 

Certain  prominent  personalities,  schools 
of  thought,  bodies  of  doctrine,  historical 
events,  have  helped  to  define  the  situation 
and  determine  the  attitudes  and  values  of 
our  various  immigrant  groups  in  character- 
istic ways  in  their  home  countries.  To  the 
Sicilian,  for  example,  marital  infidelity  means 
conventionally  the  stiletto;  to  the  American, 
the  divorce  court.  These  differences  some- 
times go  so  far  that  it  is  impossible  for  those 
concerned  to  talk  to  one  another.  The 
Western  World,  for  example,  appreciates 
learning,  and  we  have  signalized  this  in 
our  schools.  The  Jews  also  show  this 
appreciation  (documents  1-3),  and  even 
the  Polish  peasant,  in  document  4,  p.  7, 
appreciates  learning,  though  not  for  his 
class.  But  in  document  5,  p.  8,  we  have  a 
complete  repudiation  of  learning;  the  sit- 
uation is  here  defined  in  terms  of  piety, 
somewhat  as  we  defimed  it  before  Darwin. 
W^e  can  imagine  that  if  the  Oriental  who 

268 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


signs  this  document  met  a  Western  ento- 
mologist at  dinner,  and,  interrogating  him 
as  to  his  interests,  found  that  he  spent  his 
Hfe  in  examining  potato  bugs,  moving  them 
from  one  temperature  to  another,  from  one 
degree  of  humidity  to  another,  from  one 
altitude  to  another,  to  see  if  their  spots 
changed,  and  if  they  changed  whether  the 
change  remained  permanent  under  all  con- 
ditions, or  whether  new  generations  reverted 
to  the  previous  type  if  removed  to  the  old 
conditions — in  other  words,  that  he  was 
trying  to  create  a  new  species — the  Oriental 
would  conclude  that  his  interlocutor  was 
not  only  impious,  but  insane. 

If  the  immigrant  possesses  already  an 
apperception  mass  corresponding  in  some 
degree  to  our  own,  his  participation  in  our 
life  will,  of  course,  follow  more  easily.  While 
we  have  given  in  Chapter  I  and  elsewhere 
examples  of  heritages  strange  to  us,  the 
body  of  material  presented  shows  that  he 
does  not  differ  from  us  profoundly.  We 
can  best  appreciate  the  immigrants'  mental 
kinship  with  ourselves  negatively,  by  com- 
paring them  with  what  they  are  not.  If 
the  immigrants  practiced  and  defended  can- 
nibalism and  incest;  if  they  burned  their 
widows  and  killed  their  parents  and  broke 
the  necks  of  their  wayward  daughters,  cus- 

269 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


tomarily;  if  (as  in  a  North  African  Arab 
tribe)  a  girl  were  not  eligible  for  marriage 
until  she  had  given  her  older  brother  a  child 
bom  out  of  wedlock,  to  be  reared  as  a  slave; 
if  inunigrant  families  limited  their  children 
by  law  to  one  boy  and  one  girl,  killing  the 
others  (as  in  the  Ellice  Archipelago);  or 
(as  in  the  Solomon  Islands)  if  they  killed 
al),  or  nearly  all,  their  children  and  bought 
others  from  their  neighbors,  as  our  farmers 
sell  young  calves  to  butchers  and  buy 
yearlings;  if  immigrant  army  recruits  de- 
clined target  practice  because  the  bullet 
would  go  straight  anyway  if  Allah  willed  it 
— then  the  problem  of  assimilation  would  be 
immensely  complicated. 

In  comparison  with  these  examples  immi- 
grant heritages  usually  differ  but  slightly 
from  ours,  probably  not  more  than  ours 
differ  from  those  of  our  more  conservative 
grandfathers.  Slavery,  dueling,  burning  of 
witches,  contempt  of  soil  analysis,  condem- 
nation of  the  view  that  plants  and  animals 
have  been  developed  slowly,  not  suddenly 
created,  are  comparatively  recent  American 
values  and  attitudes. 

PSYCHOLOGY  OF  ASSIMILATION 

It  is  evidently  necessary  that  the  people 
who  compose  a  community  and  participate 

270 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


in  common  enterprises  shall  have  a  body  of 
common  memories  sufficient  to  enable  them 
to  understand  one  another.  This  is  par- 
ticularly true  in  a  democracy,  where  it  is 
intended  that  the  public  institution  should 
be  responsive  to  public  opinion.  There 
can  be  no  public  opinion  unless  the  persons 
who  compose  the  public  are  able  to  live  and 
think  in  the  same  world.  The  process  of 
assimilation  involves  the  development  in 
the  immigrant  and  the  native  of  similar 
apperception  masses.  To  this  end  it  is 
desirable  that  the  immigrants  should  not 
only  speak  the  language  of  the  country, 
but  also  know  something  of  the  history  of 
the  people  among  whom  they  have  chosen 
to  dwell.  For  the  same  reason  it  is  import- 
ant that  native  Americans  should  know 
the  history  and  social  life  of  the  countries 
from  which  the  immigiants  come. 

It  is  important  also  that  every  individual 
should  share  as  fully  as  possible  a  fund  of 
knowledge,  experience,  sentiments,  and  ideals 
common  to  the  whole  community,  and  him- 
self contribute  to  that  fund.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  we  maintain  and  seek  to  main- 
tain freedom  of  speech  and  free  schools. 
The  function  of  literature,  including  poetry, 
romance,  and  the  newspaper,  is  to  enable 
all  to  share  vicariously  the  inner  life  of  each. 

271 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


The  function  of  science  is  to  gather  up, 
classify,  digest,  and  preserve,  in  a  form  in 
which  they  may  be  available  to  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole,  the  ideas,  inventions, 
and  technical  experience  of  the  individuals 
composing  it.  Not  merely  the  possession 
of  a  common  language,  but  the  widest  ex- 
tension of  the  opportunities  for  education, 
is  a  condition  of  Americanization. 

For  the  immigrant  to  achieve  an  apper- 
ception mass  in  common  with  the  Amer- 
ican community,  involves  the  development 
of  new  attitudes  on  his  part,  and  his  old 
experiences  are  the  only  possible  foundation 
for  the  new  structure.  If  a  person  becomes 
interested  in  anything  whatever,  it  is  because 
there  is  already  in  him  something  to  which 
it  can  appeal.  Visitors  to  the  Dresden 
Gallery  are  all  affected  by  the  Sistine 
Madonna  in  approximately  the  same  way 
because  they  bring  to  it  a  similar  body  of 
socially  created  appreciations — the  sanctity 
of  motherhood,  the  sufferings  of  our  Lord, 
the  adoration  of  Mary,  the  aesthetic  appre- 
ciation of  female  beauty,  and  so  forth. 
No  amount  of  explanation  or  persuasion 
would  arouse  the  same  feeling  in  an  African 
black  man.  Livingstone  relates  that  an 
African  mother  brought  to  him  through  the 
dust  and  heat  a  child  pitiably  misshapen 

272 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


through  rupture.  Two  native  men  uncov- 
ered the  basket  and  were  moved,  not  to 
pity,  but  to  laughter.  These  Africans  evi- 
dently would  not  appreciate  the  painting 
of  a  Madonna  because  they  have  not  devel- 
oped our  tenderness  toward  children,  because 
white  men  and  women  impress  them  some- 
what as  cadavers  and  albinos  impress  us,^ 
because  they  have  not  our  tradition  of 
chivalry  and  know  nothing  of  the  sufferings 
of  our  Lord. 

A  certain  identity  of  experiences  and 
memories  between  immigrants  and  Amer- 
icans is  of  main  importance  for  assimilation, 
because,  in  the  process  of  learning,  a  new 
fact  has  a  meaning  and  makes  a  a  appeal 
only  if  it  is  identified  with  some  previous 
experience,  something  that  is  already  known 
and  felt.  Thus,  when  we  appealed  to  the 
patriotism  of  our  immigrants  during  the 
war,  we  found  a  ready  response,  because  they 
knew  what  patriotism  is.  The  Bohemians 
in  a  Cleveland  parade  carried  a  banner  with 
the  inscription:  "We  are  Americans  through 
and  through  by  the  spirit  of  our  nation," 
and  interpreted  this  by  another  banner: 
"Americans,  do  not  be  discouraged.  We 
have  been  fighting  these  tyrants  for  three 

'  Livingston  states  that  after  a  long  residence  among  black 
men,  white  men  reminded  him  of  celery  and  white  mice. 

273 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


hundred  years."  And  in  the  following  letter 
a  Slovenian  boy  participates  in  American 
life  on  the  basis  of  old-country  attitudes: 

158.  Dear  Brother:  ...  I  received  the  civil 
clothes  sent  me  from  Cleveland,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  thought  occm-red  to  me  which  has  never  left 
me — that  I  should  feel  ashamed  to  leave  the  army 
and  go  back  to  civil  life.  I  do,  indeed,  love  my  young 
healthy  life,  I  long  to  be  free  again,  going  on  my 
own  ways,  without  hearing  the  command  of  another, 
but,  alas!  Am  I  justified  in  thinking  of  my  own 
liberty  and  happy  life  when  the  moment  is  here  that 
calls  on  every  young  man  to  bring  liberty  to  others? 
Away,  you  selfish  thoughts!  On  into  the  battle!  I 
am  a  Slovene  myself,  and  my  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers never  had  any  opportunity  to  fight  for  liberty. 
Indeed,  they  fought  for  hundreds  of  years  under  the 
command  of  Hapsburgs  to  continue  slavery  and 
tyranny.  .  .  .  Goodbye,  my  beloved  young  life,  I 
shall  not  return  to  my  happy  home  until  the  day 
has  come  when  I  can  proudly  see  the  liberated  Jugo- 
slavia in  a  liberated  world.  Then  I  shall  return, 
conscious  that  I  have  done  my  bit.  If  I  shall  perish — 
I  am  afraid  I  shall  let  it  be  so.  The  only  thing  I  am 
sorry  about  is  that  I  don't  possess  hundreds  of  lives, 
giving  them  all  for  liberty. 

Dear  brother,  the  suit  of  clothes  you  sent  me,  I 
sold  to-day  for  thirty  dollars,  to  a  man  who  thinks 
less  than  I  do.^ 

This  process  of  making  warm  and  personal 
something  that  would  otherwise  remain  cold, 

1  Letter  from  a  Slovene,  eligible  to  release  from  military  service 
on  the  declaration  of  war  with  Austria-Hungary  (unpublished). 

274 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


extraneous,  irrelevant,  and  foreign,  by  iden- 
tifying it  with  a  body  of  sentiments  that 
is  already  intimate  and  warm,  is  illus- 
trated in  more  detail  by  the  case  of  the 
Italian  boy  whose  first  disillusionment  in 
America  is  referred  to  in  document  34,  p.  46. 

159.  I  go  about  the  streets  to  find  the  great  his- 
tory, to  feel  the  great  emotion  for  all  that  is  noble 
in  America.  I  do  not  see  how  the  people  can  think 
to  compare  the  American  city  with  the  beauty  of 
Rome,  or  Venice,  or  Naples.  Even  in  big  city  like 
New  York  I  do  not  find  much  monuments  to  the 
great  deeds,  to  the  great  heroes,  and  the  great  artists. 
I  was  deeply  surprised  not  to  find  the  fountains.  I 
do  not  find  the  great  art  to  compare  with  the  art  of 
Italy.  .  .  .  But  one  day  I  see  very,  very  big  build- 
ing. My  mind  is  struck.  With  all  I  have  seen  in 
Italy,  in  Rome,  in  Venice,  in  Genoa,  in  Milano,  in 
Florence,  in  Naples — I  have  never  seen  anything 
like  that!  I  say,  "There  is  the  thing  American.  It 
is  a  giant!" 

When  I  went  to  night  school,  I  had  a  good  impres- 
sion to  me.  The  teacher  treat  every  one  just  the 
same.  The  Jew  just  the  same  the  Chinaman,  and 
the  Chinaman  just  the  same  the  Italian.  This  was 
a  wonderful  impression.  When  I  saw  the  principal 
of  the  school,  he  look  to  me  like  Italian  nobleman, 
the  way  he  hold  his  eyeglasses.  I  went  to  this 
school  just  because  I  like  the  principal.  He  give  it 
to  me  welcome  like  I  was  an  American.  I  learn 
little  English,  and  about  the  American  government, 
and  how  the  people  can  make  change  and  progress 
by  legislation  without  the  force  of  revolution,  and  I 

275 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


like  very  much  this  idea.  The  teacher  told  me  why 
not  to  become  an  American?  .  .  . 

I  have  good  impression  to  become  an  American. 
But  I  do  not  become  American  because  I  think 
always  of  the  grandeur  of  the  Italy  civilization  of 
the  past!  .  .  .  [Then  I  fall  in  love  and]  ...  I  do 
not  wish  at  all  to  go  back  to  Italy.  I  think  to  take 
a  "wife.  A  man  must  situate  himself.  I  think  about 
many  things,  but  I  think  especially  about  the  future. 
Everything  begin  to  look  different.  I  have  not 
think  much  about  the  future  before,  I  have  think 
about  the  past.  Maybe  I  have  a  son,  it  is  the  future 
that  is  for  him.  America  is  to  be  his  country.  What 
is  the  past?  It  is  gone.  The  future  is  to  come,  and 
I  think  that  when  my  son  shall  live  I  wish  it  to  be 
some  great  time.  For  the  future  I  cannot  see  so 
much  Italy  as  America.  The  grandeur  of  the  Italian 
cities,  Venice,  Genoa,  Florence,  Naples,  held  Italy 
in  the  world's  highest  place  for  nearly  one  thousand 
years.  But  the  world  continue.  It  go  on.  Now 
comes  the  great  day  for  America,  the  great  financial, 
the  great  mercantile  power,  and  I  think  with  that 
the  great  science,  the  great  art,  the  great  letters. 
Why  to  live  always  in  the  memory  of  past  grandeur? 
They  were  only  men.  I  am  a  man,  and  my  son  will 
be  a  man.  Why  not  live  to  be  somebody  ourselves, 
in  a  nation  more  great  than  any  nation  before,  and 
my  son  perhaps  the  greatest  of  any  great  man? 

And  I  see  that  big  work  to  build  the  future.  I  see 
the  necessity  to  learn  the  English,  to  become  the 
citizen,  to  take  part  in  the  political  life,  to  work  to 
create  the  better  understanding  between  the  races 
that  they  come  to  love  each  another,  to  work  for 
better  conditions  in  industry,  for  health  and  safety 
and  prosperity,  to  work  for  the  progress  in  science, 

276 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


for  the  better  government,  and  for  the  higher  morahty 
— and  it  become  more  pleasure  to  work  than  to  take 
the  leisure.  Suddenly  it  looks  to  me  like  that  is  the 
American,  that  is  what  the  American  is  always  to 
do,  always  to  work  for  the  achievement.  It  come 
to  me,  like  I  am  born — I  am  American !  ^ 

In  this  case  a  new  experience  makes  an 
appeal  because  it  is  identified  with  a  wish. 
The  ItaHan  boy  specifies  that  he  wishes  a 
wife,  child,  home,  but  more  generally  he 
wishes  success,  and  he  identifies  this  with 
the  American  principle  of  "achievement." 

Most  frequently  the  appreciation  of 
America  begins  in  connection  with  a  wish 
or  a  general  ideal  which  was  not  attainable 
in  the  old  country,  but  is  attainable  here. 
In  document  160  the  writer  realizes  that 
America  is  a  country  where  everybody  can 
get  an  education: 

160.  The  strongest  reason  for  my  preference  of 
America  to  other  countries  is  perhaps  my  apprecia- 
tion of  education  and  its  opportunities.  This  is 
probably  explained  by  my  previous  experience  as  a 
worker  in  the  educational  field  in  the  old  country — 
Russia.  After  graduating  from  a  teachers'  college 
at  Petrograd  I  served  as  director  of  a  pedegogical 
class  in  Esthonia  during  three  years,  from  1897  to 
1900.  As  my  views  upon  education  conflicted  with 
those  of  higher  "Russianizing"  authorities,  I  chose 
to  leave  the  teaching  field  and  entered  a  university 
to  study  law  and  political  economy. 


Reference  same  as  in  document  10,  p.  11. 
19  277 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

The  children  in  the  public  schools  in  Esthonia  had 
to  study  everything  except  religion  in  Russian.  They 
had  to  study  Russian  (Slavic)  history  instead  of  that 
of  their  own  country  and  people.  A  good  deal  of 
time  was  given  to  lessons  in  religion  and  the  singing 
of  church  hymns.  But  the  saddest  thing  of  all  was 
that  the  children  going  through  public  school  learned 
nothing  or  very  little  of  the  rudiments  of  the  sciences. 
For  adults  there  were  no  facilities  for  learning.  The 
people  forming  private  classes  were  pursued  and  in 
many  instances  arrested  and  fined. 

Later  I  went  to  Germany  and  other  West  European 
countries  and  found  that  though  public  schools  there 
gave  some  knowledge  to  the  children,  their  indi- 
viduality was  suppressed  by  a  system  of  discipline 
and  punishment,  and  by  being  forced  to  learn  rather 
by  memorizing  than  by  understanding,  and  rather 
by  compulsion  than  by  their  own  love  for  learning. 

America  is  not  only  a  "melting  pot"  for  races  but 
also  a  testing  ground  or  laboratory  for  ideas,  original 
American  as  well  as  imported  European.  Here 
they  are  compared  in  practical  application,  through 
which  the  degrees  of  their  vitality  can  be  determined. 
This  makes  America  an  interesting  country  in  which 
to  learn — to  learn  through  observation  and  experience 
and  through  amply  provided  educational  institutions 
and  facilities,  from  the  evening  schools  to  the  great 
universities,  from  various  expositions  to  libraries. 
I  know  no  other  country  where  opportunities  for 
learning  by  everybody  are  so  rich  as  here. 

The  immigrants  arriving  on  American  shores  soon 
find  out  that  they  need  to  learn,  and  first  of  all  to 
learn  the  American  methods  of  their  prospective 
trades  if  they  are  going  to  make  good  in  the  New 
World.    Formerly  many  of  them  were  discouraged 

278 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


by  not  knowing  or  not  finding  opportunities  for 
learning  here.  But  nowadays  they  are,  as  it  were, 
discovering  these  opportunities.  For  this  reason  I 
beheve  that  the  immigrants  in  the  future  will  come 
here  not  only  for  higher  earnings,  but  also  for  the 
sake  of  learning,  desiring  industrial  training  as  well 
as-  general  education. 

The  appreciation  of  America  as  a  wonderful  country 
in  which  to  learn  dawned  upon  me  after  years  of 
wanderings,  study,  and  observation  here  and  in 
Europe,  and  as  a  result  of  comparing  this  country 
with  the  European  countries,  within  the  limitations 
of  my  personal  experience. 

My  field  study  and  observations  led  me  to  the 
conclusion  that  in  the  public  school  programs  and 
methods  in  America  and  in  Eueopean  countries  there 
is  a  still  more  pronounced  difference  than  in  the  field 
of  higher  education.  In  Europe  the  main  emphasis 
is  laid  upon  form,  authority,  obedience,  discipline, 
while  in  the  American  public  schools  freedom  of 
action,  imagination,  initiative,  and  self-reliance  are 
pursued  as  the  main  goal  in  the  training  of  youth. 
The  European  public  school  suppresses  individuahty, 
while  the  American  builds  it  up,  or  at  least  leaves  it 
untrammeled.^ 

The  identification  of  immigrant  groups 
with  America  takes  place  on  the  psycho- 
logical basis  shown  in  the  preceding  docu- 
ments. Points  of  contact  are  found  in  the 
respective  apperception  masses,  where  inter- 
ests merge,  and  as  a  result  of  the  increased 
community  of  interests  other  contacts  are 

*  Autobiography  of  an  IrUelleclual  Esthontan  (manuscript) . 
279 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


made  progressively.  Assimilation  may  be 
compared  with  skin  grafting,  where  the 
new  tissue  is  not  applied  to  the  whole  sur- 
face, but  spots  are  grafted,  and  from  these 
the  connecting  tissues  ramify. 

TOLERANCE  VS.  SUPPRESSION 

The  apperception  mass  of  the  immigrant, 
expressed  in  the  attitudes  and  values  he 
brings  with  him  from  his  old  life,  is  the 
material  from  which  he  must  build  his 
Americanism.  It  is  also  the  material  we 
must  work  with,  if  we  would  aid  this  process. 
Our  tools  may  be  in  part  American  customs 
and  institutions,  but  the  substance  we  seek 
to  mold  into  new  forms  is  the  product  of 
other  centuries  in  other  lands.  In  education 
it  is  valuable  to  let  the  child,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, make  his  own  discoveries  and  follow 
his  own  interests.  He  should  have  the 
opportunity  of  seeking  new  experiences  which 
have  a  meaning  for  him  when  connected 
with  his  old  experiences.  A  wise  policy  of 
assimilation,  like  a  wise  educational  policy, 
does  not  seek  to  destroy  the  attitudes  and 
memories  that  are  there,  but  to  build  on 
them. 

There  is  a  current  opinion  in  America, 
of  the  "ordering  and  forbidding"  type, 

280 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


demanding  from  the  immigrant  a  quick 
and  complete  Americanization  through  the 
suppression  and  repudiation  of  all  the  signs 
that  distinguish  him  from  us.^  Those  who 
have  this  view  wish  the  repudiation  to  be 
what  the  church  fathers  demanded  of  a 
confession  of  sin — "sudden,  complete,  and 
bitter." 

It  is  notable  that  this  destruction  of 
memories  is  the  plan  of  both  those  who 
demand  a  quick  and  complete  Americani- 
zation and  those  who  demand  a  quick  and 
complete  social  revolution  —  the  extreme 
Americanists  and  the  extreme  radicals.  In 
the  anarchist-communist  manifesto  (docu- 
ment 76,  p.  100)  we  read:  "We  must  mer- 
cilessly destroy.  .  .  .  We  must  take  care 
that  everything  is  wiped  out  from  the 
earth  that  is  a  reminder."  Both  positions 
imply  that  there  is  nothing  of  value  for 
the  future  in  the  whole  of  past  experience; 
whereas  we  have  shown,  in  speaking  of  the 
psychology  of  assimilation  (particularly  in 
the  case  of  the  Italian  boy)  that  "reminders" 
are  precisely  what  the  individual  uses  in 

^"Broadly  speaking,  we  mean  [by  Americanization]  an  ap- 
preciation of  the  institutions  of  this  country,  absolute  forgetfulness 
of  all  obligations  or  connections  with  other  countries  because  of 
descent  or  birth." — Superintendent  of  the  New  York  Public  Schools, 
N.  i\  Evening  Post,  August  9,  1918.  Quoted  by  I.  B.  Berkson. 
Americanization,  chapter  ii  (in  press) . 

281 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


making  constructive  changes  in  his  life;  and 
in  the  chapter  on  demoraHzation  we  pointed 
out  that  the  absence  of  reminders,  forget- 
fulness  of  the  standards  of  the  community, 
failure  to  live  in  the  light  of  the  past,  reduce 
a  man  to  the  basis  of  the  instincts,  with 
which  humanity  first  began.  How  badly 
the  mere  instincts  work  is  exemplified  in 
document  56,  p.  72. 

There  is  an  element  of  pure  prejudice  in 
this  theory  of  Americanization.  It  appears 
as  intolerance  of  the  more  obvious  signs 
of  unlikeness.  \Miere  color  exists,  it  is  the 
mark  specially  singled  out  by  prejudice,  but 
since  our  immigrants  are  mainly  not  colored, 
language  becomes  the  most  concrete  sign 
of  unlikeness  and  the  foremost  object  of 
animosity.  It  is  certainly  true  that  a  man 
cannot  participate  fully  in  our  life  without 
our  language,  and  that  its  acquisition  is 
rightly  considered  a  sign  and  rough  index 
of  Americanization.  But  the  American  who 
does  not  know  the  details  of  the  immigrant's 
life  and  problems  cannot  imagine  how  useful 
his  language  is  here  in  the  first  stages.  Take 
an  actual  case.  The  Danes  are  distinguished 
farmers,  but  here  the  soil,  the  demand,  are 
unfamiliar  and  they  have  trouble.  The 
American  government  could  help  them,  but 
they  do  not  know  this.    Even  if  they  did 

ftSi 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


they  could  not  inquire  in  English;  they 
would  not  know  whether  to  address  the 
President  or  the  Senate;  and  they  would 
not  address  either  because  they  would  not 
know  with  what  honorific  form  to  begin  the 
letter.  A  certain  Danish  editor  invites  com- 
munications on  specific  plans  and  troubles 
of  this  kind.  In  each  case  (and  the  number 
is  relatively  large)  he  sends  with  his  reply 
a  letter  in  English,  addressed  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  asking  for  the  proper 
bulletin.  The  Dane  is  to  copy  the  letter 
and  send  it.  This  much  he  will  do,  and  the 
bulletin  somehow  gets  read.  Here  again 
is  the  typical  process  of  assimilation — the 
identification  of  the  immigrant's  success 
with  America;  here,  too,  is  an  example  of 
what  we  mean  when  we  say  that  the  immi- 
grants must  assist  in  their  own  American- 
ization. Prejudice  against  language  thus 
means  bringing  into  disrepute  one  of  the 
tools  most  useful  in  assimilation. 

Again,  the  Yiddish  language  is  a  very 
useful  heritage  to  the  Jew,  and  this  is  a 
clear  case  of  utility,  without  any  obstinacy 
or  sentimentality.  The  Jews  associate  their 
nationalism  with  Hebrew,  the  language  of 
the  Jews  and  the  one  that  their  national 
idealists  are  seeking  to  restore.  Yiddish 
is  a  German  dialect,  with  a  mixture  of 

283 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


Hebrew,  Polish,  and  so  forth,  developed 
originally  by  the  Jews  as  a  business  expedient. 
It  is  an  uncouth  speech,  with  very  limited 
power  of  literary  expression,  and  nothing 
with  which  a  man  would  seek  to  identify 
himself.  The  Jews  in  America  drop  it  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  it  is  really  difficult  to 
induce  a  Jew  to  speak  a  few  words  of  it  in 
order  to  show  you  what  it  is  like.  And  yet 
the  Jewish  community  in  New  York  City 
pays  annually  more  than  $2,000,000  for 
Yiddish  newspapers.  These  newspapers  and 
other  Jewish  institutions  do  thousands  of 
particular  and  very  personal  services  for 
Jews  which  American  institutions  could  not 
do  and  which  no  one  could  undertake  with- 
out the  use  of  Yiddish.  Language  is  a  tool 
which  its  possessor  cannot  afford  to  throw 
away  until  he  has  another. 

Quite  aside  from  the  question  of  utility, 
immigrants,  especially  the  older  ones,  cherish 
the  memories  of  their  former  home,  and  wish 
to  preserve  some  signs  identifying  them 
with  their  past.  This  is  a  natural  sentiment. 
It  is  frankly  expressed  in  the  following  doc- 
uments from  groups  which  have  no  national- 
istic psychoses  and  represent  the  settler  type : 

161.  In  a  news  item  in  Skandinaven,  the  editor  of 
the  Lutheran  Herald  ...  is  quoted  as  saying  .  .  . 
with  reference  to  the  Norwegian  flag,  that  in  this 

284 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


country  it  did  not  belong  anywhere  outside  of  the 
dictionary  and  the  Norwegian  legation  headquarters 
in  Washington.  ,  .  . 

No  flag  except  the  American  has  a  place  as  a 
national  emblem  in  the  heart  of  any  good  citizen. 
But  how  is  it  that  we  have  here  the  flags  of  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth.''  During  the  war,  when  the 
country  surely  required  the  loyalty  of  every  citizen 
as  never  before,  there  were  foreign  flags  around  us 
wherever  we  went.  The  English  flag,  the  French, 
the  Belgian,  the  Italian — they  were  to  be  seen  every- 
where. They  were  used  at  patriotic  and  other 
meetings;  people  displayed  buttons  with  these  flags 
on  them,  and  it  was  very  common  to  see  automobiles 
decorated  in  this  way.  .  .  .  No  one  feared  enemy 
purposes  from  the  nations  these  flags  represent. 
The  same  can  with  even  greater  truth  be  said  about 
Norway.  In  the  first  place,  Norway's  relatively 
small  military  strength  makes  this  thought  untenable. 
Also  that  country's  pronounced  peace  policy  puts 
the  idea  out  of  the  question;  also  its  later  historical 
traditions.  Norway  is  one  of  the  few  nations  which 
have  managed  a  decisive  national  crisis  without 
resorting  to  war.  .  .  . 

When  the  Norwegian  flag  is  seen  here  the  object 
of  its  display  is  to  celebrate  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  values  which  Norway  has  achieved.  In 
the  same  way  we  honor  the  important  intellectual 
and  spiritual  revivals  and  achievements  in  all  nations. 
If  this  had  not  been  permitted,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lee  or 
any  other  American  would  not  have  a  bible  to  teach 
from. 

But  when  people  of  Norwegian  extraction  in  this 
country  hold  fast  to  their  Norwegian  cultural  heri- 
tages, then  it  is  because  a  people  who  have  lived 

285 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


together  in  the  same  country  through  centuries  must 
have  given  birth  to  spiritual  and  iatellectual  values 
which  are  peculiar  to  such  a  people.  .  . 

162.  .  .  .  The  small  Danish  society  of  which  I 
am  the  secretary  has  a  membership  of  only  twenty- 
eight,  and  while  in  regard  to  American  ideas  these 
men  are  as  loyal  as  if  they  were  born  Americans — 
and  this  is  the  case  with  the  immigrated  Danes  as 
a  general  rule — yet  I  cannot  say  that  our  society 
does  much  to  Americanize  its  members.  At  their 
meetings  they  speak  their  mother  tongue  and  sing 
their  old  country  songs,  looking  upon  one  another 
almost  as  members  of  the  same  family,  and  their 
object  is  to  help  each  other  in  case  of  necessity, 
especially,  of  course,  in  case  of  sickness.  .  .  . 

When  the  different  Liberty  loans  were  floated  I 
found  all  of  us  personally  deeply  interested  and  buy- 
ing to  our  capacity,  and  at  my  initiative  our  little 
society  bought  $500  worth  of  bonds,  practically 
using  all  the  cash  money  we  had  in  the  treasury;  I, 
personally,  managed  out  of  my  $35  per  week  job  to 
buy  bonds  to  the  value  of  $600.^ 

Any  fine  fund  of  personal  feeling  is  valu- 
able in  identifying  the  present  with  the  past 
in  the  life  of  the  immigrant,  but  aside  from 
this  these  sentimental  memories  should  com- 
mand respect,  and  we  should  let  them  remain 
unmolested  in  the  region  of  personal  life. 
We  should  know  by  this  time  that  under 
tolerance,  peculiar  group  values — such  as 
language  and  religion — are  only  means  to 

'  Simon  Johnson,  Skandinaven,  (Chicago)  December  1,  1919. 
'  Communication  from  Mr.  Fred  Thomsen. 

286 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


a  fuller  life;  under  oppression,  they  become 
objects  of  life. 

IMMIGRANT  ORGANIZATIONS  VALUABLE 

Following  the  instinctive  prejudice  against 
strangeness,  many  Americans  distrust  immi- 
grant organizations,  as  such,  and  consider 
them  obstacles  to  assimilation.  On  tbe 
contrary,  we  have  emphasized  throughout 
this  study  the  importance  of  these  organi- 
zations. •  Indeed,  the  amount  of  immigra- 
tion which  we  can  continue  to  tolerate  or 
encourage  depends  on  their  character. 

Organizations,  beginning  in  the  family  and 
community,  are  the  means  by  which  men 
regulate  their  lives.  The  healthy  life  of  a  so- 
ciety always  depends  more  on  the  spontane- 
ous organization  of  its  members  than  on 
formal  legal  and  political  regulations.  It  is 
only  in  an  organized  group — in  the  home, 
the  neighborhood,  the  trade  union,  the  co- 
operative society — where  he  is  a  power  and 
an  influence,  in  some  region  where  he  has 
status  and  represents  something,  that  man 
can  maintain  a  stable  personality.  There  is 
only  one  kind  of  neighborhood  having  no 
representative  citizen — the  slum;  a  world 
where  men  cease  to  be  persons  because  they 
represent  nothing.    In  the  slum  men  live 

287 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


in  an  enforced  intimacy,  but  they  do  not 
communicate.  They  suspect  one  another 
and  keep  away  from  one  another.  They 
cannot  maintain  a  personality  because 
there  are  no  standards;  if  standards  of 
decency,  morality,  and  sanitation  exist  they 
are  imposed  from  without.  A  slum  is  a 
place,  composed  at  first  of  the  poor,  which 
has  become  inevitably  a  refuge  for  criminals 
and  disorderly  persons — a  place  of  missions 
and  lost  souls. 

If  the  face -to -face  organization  which 
made  the  immigrant  moral  at  home  is  sud- 
denly dissolved  in  this  country,  we  have  the 
general  situation  presented  in  the  docu- 
ments on  demoralization  in  Chapter  IV.  We 
saw  there  that  men,  removed  from  the 
restraining  influence  of  an  organized  com- 
munity, tend  to  follow  their  immediate 
impulses  and  behave  in  monstrous  ways. 
Ethnologists  have  shown  that  when  the 
uncivilized  races  come  into  contact  with  the 
products  of  our  civilization  they  appropriate 
the  vices  and  ornaments,  the  whisky  and 
beads,  and  leave  the  more  substantial  values. 
The  same  tendency  appears  among  immi- 
grants, especially  the  children.  The  term 
"Americanization"  is  not  used  popularlj^ 
among  the  immigrants  as  we  use  it.  They 
call  a  badly  demoralized  boy  "completely 

288 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


Americanized."  Thomas  and  Znaniecki 
have  presented  a  large  mass  of  materials 
on  the  demoralization  of  the  Poles  in  Amer- 
ica, and  they  conclude  that  the  "wild'* 
behavior  found  in  this  group  is  to  be  explained 
by  the  fact  that  "the  individual  does  not 
feel  himself  backed  in  his  dealings  with  the 
outside  world  by  any  strong  social  group  of 
his  owTi,  and  is  not  conscious  of  being  a 
member  of  a  steadily  organized  society.  .  .  . 
This  does  not,  of  course,  apply  to  the  rela- 
tively intelligent  and  sociably  responsible 
immigrants  who  take  an  active  part  in  the 
construction  of  Polish  institutions  and  have 
an  economic  ideal  which  gives  stability  to 
their  lives.  [It  characterizes]  that  floating 
unorganized  mass  of  the  intellectually  back- 
ward immigrant  population  which  consti- 
tutes among  the  Poles  from  one-fourth  to 
one-third  of  the  total  number."  ^ 

The  organization  of  the  immigrant  com- 
munity is  necessary  as  a  regulative  measure. 
Any  type  of  organization  which  succeeds  in 
regulating  the  lives  of  its  members  is  bene- 
ficial. If  you  can  induce  a  man  to  belong 
to  something,  to  co-operate  with  any  group 
whatever,  where  something  is  expected  of 
him,  where  he  has  responsibility,  dignity, 
recognition,  economic  security,  you  have 

*  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant,  vol.  v  (in  press). 
289 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


at  least  regulated  his  life.  From  this  stand- 
point even  the  nationalistic  societies  do 
more  to  promote  assimilation  than  to  retard 
it.  There  is  no  doubt,  for  example,  that 
the  nationalistic  newspapers  do  not  want 
their  readers  to  become  Americanized,  but 
they  make  them  more  intelligent,  more 
prepared  to  be  Americans,  simply  by  print- 
ing the  news  of  what  is  going  on  in  America, 
and  this  they  have  to  do  in  order  to  circulate 
at  all.  The  nationalistic  organizations  are 
the  means  by  which  certain  men  make  their 
living  and  get  their  distinction;  they  assist 
the  home  countries  materially  in  their  strug- 
gle for  freedom,  they  stimulate  some  older 
people  to  return  to  Europe,  but  they  have 
almost  no  effect  in  keeping  the  immigrant, 
especially  the  young  generation,  estranged 
from  American  life: 

163.  In  spite  of  the  continual  use  of  patriotic 
Polish  slogans  by  all  local  groups,  Poland  is  for  the 
great  majority  of  the  Poles  mainly  the  object  of  an 
almost  purely  aesthetic  interest,  whose  motive  power 
is  very  small  as  compared  with  the  many  and  com- 
plex practical  interests  connected  with  the  imme- 
diate social  environment.  .  .  .  Even  before  the 
great  war  Polish  patriotism  was  not  a  vital  matter 
with  the  great  mass  of  American  Poles.^ 

164.  It  is  a  very  painful  admission,  but  we  cannot 
fail  to  recognize  that  our  language  has  suffered  and 

1  Thomas  and  Znaniecki,  The  Polish  Peasant,  vol.  v  (in  press). 
290 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


is  suffering  constant  and  lamentable  losses.  .  .  . 
Children  born  in  this  country,  and  consequently 
American  citizens  by  birth,  have  produced  a  third 
generation  of  a  totally  different  mentality  from  the 
first.  ...  [It  is  true  that]  some  intelligent  indi- 
viduals who  had  in  childhood  no  opportunity  to 
secure  a  French  education,  and  little  opportunity 
to  speak  French,  have  applied  themselves  to  the  study 
of  the  French  language,  forcing  themselves  to  prac- 
tice it  and  to  show  themselves  truly  patriotic.  But 
these  are  people  of  heart  and  character  who  appreciate 
all  that  is  noble  in  the  race  from  which  they  are  issued 
and  who  were  unwilling  to  be  simply  Americans.^ 

The  propaganda  of  hate  carried  on  notably 
by  the  Italian  press,  and  described  by  an 
Italian  in  the  note  below,^  is  also  partly 

'  J.  G.  Le  Boutillier,  Preface  to  Alexandre  Belise,  Bisioire  de  la 
Presse  Franco- Americaine. 

*  "  I  have  seen  a  large  number  of  articles  from  Italian  newspapers, 
written  by  Italian  professional  men  concerning  America,  which 
if  translated  and  published,  would  open  the  eyes  even  of  the  blind. 
America  is  desqribed  in  these  articles  as  a  ruthless,  rapacious, 
hypocritical,  puritanical  country.  American  men  are  superficial 
weak,  ridiculous;  American  women  are  vain  and  prefer  to  have 
a  good  time  rather  than  to  be  good  wives  and  mothers;  churches 
in  America  are  places  of  business;  social  and  philanthropic  work 
is  established  to  furnish  fat  salaries  to  innumerable  oflBceholders; 
the  political  life  is  incurably  corrupt;  and  everything  else  is  termed 
"Americanate,"  meaning  the  quintessence  of  foolishness.  A 
sensational  divorce  case,  a  scandal  at  the  City  Hall,  Dowie  or 
BiUy  Sunday,  anything  and  everything  is  used  as  a  pretext  for  a 
long  philippic  against  America.  I  have  seen  Itahan  newspapers 
with  laudatory  articles  on  America  written  in  English,  which  no 
Italian  would  read,  and  with  an  article  in  Italian  in  the  same 
issue,  that  the  American  would  not  understand,  painting  America  in 
the  blackest  colors." — E.  C.  Sartorio,  Social  and  Religious  Life  of 
the  Italians  in  America,  p.  50. 

291 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


nationalistic  in  its  aim.  While  not  among 
the  dependent  nationalities,  Italy  has  been 
particularly  active  in  preserving  the  alle- 
giance of  her  emigrated  subjects,  and  her 
leaders  have  acted,  so  to  speak,  as  repre- 
sentatives of  a  country  that  is  trying  to 
control  a  colony.  They  have  used  hate, 
because  enmity  is  the  motive  through  which 
men  can  be  aroused  and  controlled  most 
easily.  But  here  also,  if  we  recognize  the 
fact  that  editors  are  playing  on  attitudes 
that  are  already  there,  not  creating  them, 
the  propaganda  has  slight  importance. 
Italians  who  returned  to  Sicily  after  the  war, 
are  now  returning  to  America.  They  found 
that  it  was  "too  small"  over  there.  They 
had  entered  their  own  country  as  immi- 
grants, and  suffered  again  the  disillusion- 
ment of  the  immigrant.  The  fault  to  be 
found  with  the  nationalistic  organizations 
is  not  that  they  do  the  damage  they  imag- 
ine they  are  doing,  but  that  they  fail  to  do 
the  constructive  work  of  which,  as  organ- 
izations, they  are  capable;  that  they  do 
not  help  their  people  to  identify  their 
success  with  America,  in  such  ways  as  we 
have  exemplified  above  in  the  case  of  the 
Danes  and  Jews. 

We  have  not  developed  American  insti- 
tutions adapted  to  meeting  the  first  needs  of 

202 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


the  immigrant  and  preserving  in  him  the 
good  qualities  which  he  brings.  Usually 
he  reaches  our  institutions  only  after  he  has 
become  a  failure.  The  immigrant  organi- 
zations are  doing  very  positive  services  for 
their  members  by  maintaining  their  sense 
of  social  responsibility,  of  responsibility  to 
some  type  of  community.  We  have  seen 
examples  of  it  in  this  chapter  and  in  the 
chapter  on  "Types  of  Community  Influ- 
ence." But  more  than  this,  our  experience 
has  shown  that,  while  it  is  possible  for  an 
individual  inunigrant,  especially  if  he  repre- 
sents a  relatively  cultured  type,  to  identify 
himself  directly  with  American  society  with- 
out an  intermediate  connection  with  a  group 
of  his  own  nationality,  in  the  main  the 
immigrants  are  becoming  Americanized  en 
masse,  by  whole  blocks,  precisely  through 
their  own  organizations.  The  organization 
as  a  whole  is  influenced,  modified,  Ameri- 
canized by  its  efforts  to  adjust  itself  to 
American  conditions.  This  happened,  for 
example,  when  the  immigrant  athletic 
organizations  recently  joined  the  American 
Amateur  Athletic  Association;  for  this 
alliance  implies  acceptance  by  the  immi- 
grant of  all  the  American  athletic  stand- 
ards. Similarly,  the  immigrant  who  pen- 
etrates American  society  as  a  member  of 

20  293 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

an  iminigrant  group  forms  a  bond  between 
this  group  and  American  society.  The  Letts 
in  New  York  City  felt  pride  in  a  young 
violinist  who  had  played  at  their  weekly 
entertainments.  For  his  further  develop- 
ment the  Lettish  organization  sent  him  to 
the  American  teacher,  Damrosch.  The  indi- 
vidual thus  forms  a  link  between  the  immi- 
grant society  and  American  society.  He 
will  transmit  the  influence  of  his  American 
contacts  to  the  immigrant  organization. 

We  illustrated  in  Chapter  II  the  impor- 
tant fact  that  the  immigrant  is  not  a  highly 
individualized  person.  He  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  live  in  a  small,  intimate,  face-to-face 
group,  and  his  conduct  has  been  determined 
by  this  group.  Naturally  he  needs  the 
assistance  of  such  a  group  for  a  time  in 
America,  and  naturally  this  group  is  com- 
posed of  his  own  people.  This  general 
condition  explains  the  perfect  success  of 
our  government  in  its  appeal  to  the  immi- 
grant population  for  subscriptions  to  the 
Liberty  loans.  The  appeal  was  not  made 
to  the  immigrant  individually,  but  through 
his  organizations. 

The  type  of  organization  which  the  immi- 
grants bring  with  them  from  home  (see 
Chapter  II)  is  one  which  we  ought  to  appre- 
ciate.   It  represents  the  individual's  respon- 

294 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


sibility  to  society  which  we  have  in  a  measure 
lost,  and  are  consciously  attempting  to 
restore  by  the  reorganization  of  the  local 
community.  It  is  a  type  of  organization 
which  can  be  made  the  basis  of  all  kinds  of 
co-operative  enterprise — the  basis,  in  fact, 
on  which  the  local  community  will  again 
function.  Co-operation  is  an  attitude  al- 
ready present  in  immigrant  consciousness, 
and  co-operative  economic  enterprises  are 
arising  spontaneously  among  immigrant 
groups — the  Finns,  the  Italians,  the  Poles, 
and  others.  This  is  especially  true  since 
younger  men  of  immigrant  parentage,  who 
have  gone  through  our  schools,  who  are 
American  in  feeling,  are  beginning  to  assume 
the  leadership  in  the  immigrant  groups  and 
to  employ  constructively  the  traditional 
spirit  of  co-operation. 

If  we  wish  to  help  the  immigrant  to  get 
a  grip  on  American  life,  to  understand  its 
conditions,  and  find  his  own  role  in  it,  we 
must  seize  on  everything  in  his  old  life  which 
will  serve  either  to  interpret  the  new  or  to 
hold  him  steady  while  he  is  getting  adjusted. 
The  language  through  which  his  compatriots 
can  give  him  their  garnered  experience,  the 
"societies"  which  make  him  feel  "at  home,'* 
the  symbols  of  his  home  land,  reminding 
him  of  the  moral  standards  under  which  he 

295 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


grew  up.  Common  courtesy  and  kindness 
exact  tolerance  for  these  things,  and  common 
sense  indicates  that  they  are  the  foundation 
of  the  readjustment  we  seek. 

PERPETUATION  OF  GROUPS  IMPOSSIBLE 

The  evident  value  of  these  immigrant  or- 
ganizations during  the  period  of  adjust- 
ment raises  another  question.  Is  he  to 
remain  permanently  in  one  of  these  racial 
organizations,  and  are  they  to  continue  as 
centers  of  cultures  diverse  from  and  com- 
peting with  that  of  America?  This  question 
touches  a  larger  aspect  of  the  heritages, 
relating  to  the  ideal  character  of  our  national 
life — whether  we  shall  strive  for  a  uniform 
or  a  diversified  type  of  culture  and  whether 
the  perpetuation  of  immigrant  traits  and 
organizations  will  accomplish  this  diversity. 

We  have  recognized  the  importance  of  a 
resemblance  between  the  members  of  a 
community  which  will  enable  them  to  under- 
stand and  influence  one  another.  In  a 
peasant  community,  as  in  a  herd  or  flock, 
great  unanimity  in  following  tested  habits 
is  suflflcient,  without  any  great  intelligence, 
to  enable  all  to  live.  But  as  communities 
progress  the  members  behave  more  and 
more   independently,   use   more  freedom. 

296 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


Communities  progress,  indeed,  because  cer- 
tain of  their  members  insist  on  using  more 
freedom. 

The  civilization  we  have  is  the  product 
of  an  association  of  individuals  who  are 
widely  unlike,  and  with  the  progress  of 
civilization  the  divergence  in  individual 
human  types  has  been  and  must  continue 
to  be  constantly  multiplied.  Our  progress 
in  the  arts  and  sciences  and  in  the  creation 
of  values  in  general  has  been  dependent  on 
specialists  whose  distinctive  worth  was  pre- 
cisely their  divergence  from  other  individ- 
uals. It  is  even  evident  that  we  have  been 
able  to  use  productively  persons  who  in  a 
savage  or  peasant  society  would  have  been 
classed  as  insane — who  were,  perhaps,  insane. 
Until  recently  our  conception  of  insanity 
has  been  to  some  extent  determined  by  the 
standards  of  the  "primary  group,"  which 
demands  uniformity  in  its  members.  Many 
persons  who  had  the  qualities  of  genius  have 
simply  passed  as  queer  in  their  local  com- 
munities. Julius  Robert  Mayer,  the  dis- 
coverer of  the  law  of  the  conservation  of 
energy,  was  twice  confined  in  insane  asylums 
by  the  people  of  the  provincial  town  of 
Heilbronn.  Where  else  did  a  man  belong 
who  went  about  arguing  that  "heat  was  a 
mode  of  motion,"  that  if  a  house  burned 

297 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 

down  it  was  not  destroyed?  Indeed,  he 
considered  himself  insane  in  his  home  town, 
and  when  the  physicist  Diiring  wished  to 
visit  him  he.  declined  to  receive  him  in  Heil- 
bronn,  but  arranged  to  meet  him  in  the 
neighboring  village  of  Wildbad.  "Since 
everybody  here,"  he  wrote,  "considers  me 
a  fool,  everybody  considers  himself  justified 
in  exercising  a  spiritual  guardianship  over 
me."  ^  We  have  already  pointed  out  that 
the  Mohammedan  could  regard  a  modern 
scientist  as  insane.  However,  we  have  had 
so  many  profitable  returns  from  the  queer 
behavior  of  such  men  as  Mayer,  Darwin, 
and  Langley  (whose  experiments  with  the 
flying  machine  were  regarded  by  many  as 
insane),  that  we  have  changed  our  definition 
of  insanity  and  regard  any  man  as  sane 
the  sum  of  whose  activities  is  valuable  to 
the  community.^ 

The  value  of  the  principle  of  diversity 
has  already  been  fully  recognized  in  the 
scientific  world  and  in  the  specialized  occu- 
pations. Efficiency  in  these  fields  is  based 
on  far-going  individualization  of  function. 
The  astronomer  or  the  physiological  chemist 


'  The  details  are  in  Ostwald's  Grosse  Manner. 

'  "When  we  begin  to  acknowledge  many  standards  of  normality 
we  take  away  the  sting  of  a  stigma." — Adolf  Meyer,  Suggestions  of 
Modem  Science  Concerning  Education,  p.  143. 

298 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


awaits  the  result  of  the  physicist  or  the 
chemist  as  condition  of  further  steps  in  his 
own  investigation.  The  more  diversified 
the  personahties,  the  more  particularized 
the  products  of  these  personalities,  the 
greater  the  likelihood  that  we  shall  find 
among  them  the  elements  for  the  realization 
of  our  own  plans,  the  construction  of  our 
own  values. 

In  the  civilization  having  the  highest 
efliciency  all  are  not  in  the  same  "universe 
of  discourse,"  but  there  tend  to  be  smaller 
groups  or  circles  who  understand  one  another 
and  co-operate.  Although  they  are  not 
understood  by  everybody,  their  products 
become  useful  to  everybody.  The  physi- 
cists, for  example,  represent  such  a  circle. 
The  physicist  demonstrates  a  law  which  the 
public  cannot  understand;  but  the  engineer 
understands  it  and  applies  it  in  the  invention 
of  machines  which  become  of  general  use. 

Now  representatives  of  the  different  immi- 
grant groups  claim  a  similar  social  value 
— that,  on  account  of  their  racial  peculi- 
arities and  the  fact  that  they  have  devel- 
oped by  their  past  experiences  different 
apperception  masses,  they  are  predisposed 
to  individualized  functions  as  groups,  and 
that  by  permanently  organizing  along  the 
lines  of  their  aptitudes  they  will  not  only 

299 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


express  their  peculiar  genius,  but  contribute 
unique  values  to  America: 

165.  Democracy  rejected  the  proposal  of  the 
superman  who  should  rise  through  sacrifice  of  the 
many.  It  insists  that  the  full  development  of  each 
individual  is  not  only  a  right,  but  a  duty  to  society; 
and  that  our  best  hope  for  civihzation  hes  not  in 
uniformity,  but  in  wide  differentiation. 

The  movements  of  the  last  century  have  proved 
that  whole  peoples  have  individuahty  no  less  marked 
than  that  of  the  single  person;  that  the  individuality 
of  a  people  is  irrepressible  and  that  the  misnamed 
internationalism  which  seeks  the  obliteration  of 
nationalities  or  peoples  is  unattainable.  The  new 
nationalism  proclaims  that  each  race  or  people,  like 
each  individual,  has  a  right  and  duty  to  develop, 
and  that  only  through  such  diflFerentiated  develop- 
ment will  high  civilization  be  attained.  Not  until 
these  principles  of  nationalism,  hke  those  of  democ- 
racy, are  generally  accepted,  will  liberty  be  fully 
attained,  and  minorities  be  secure  in  their  rights.^ 

166.  In  contradistinction  to  fusion  is  the  attitude 
which  deals  with  the  entire  problem  of  Jewish  life 
as  the  problem  of  a  community,  which  wishes  to 
preserve  the  integrity  of  its  group  Ufe.  Those  who 
hold  this  attitude  beUeve  that  the  continued  con- 
servation of  those  values  which  are  worth  while  in 
Jewish  life  can  but  work  for  the  enrichment  of  the 
character  of  the  American  Jew,  and  must  therefore 
redound  to  the  benefit  of  America.  They  contend 
that  America  will  accomplish  its  destiny  to  the  fullest 
only  if  it  will  permit  complete  social  expression  on 

'  Louis  D.  Brandeis,  Jewish  Rights  and  the  [Jewish]  Congress, 
Address,  Carnegie  Hall,  Januarj'  24,  1916. 

300 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


the  part  of  all  the  people  which  come  to  its  shores, 
provided,  of  course,  such  expression  is  co-operative 
and  does  not  militate  against  the  common  good.  .  .  . 
In  his  political  and  civic  life,  therefore,  the  individual 
must  necessarily  have  a  single  affiliation.  But  it 
is  possible  for  one  individual  to  know  many  languages, 
to  be  acquainted  with  many  literatures,  and  to  be 
imbued  with  the  ideals  of  many  groups.  Democracy 
not  only  permits  such  multiple  spiritual  affihations, 
but  encourages  them  to  the  utmost.^ 

167.  The  ethnic  groups  are  justified  in  organizing 
among  themselves  for  the  perpetuation  of  what  they 
consider  to  be  of  significance  for  their  heritage,  pro- 
viding that  by  so  doing  they  do  not  preclude  the 
influence  of  what  the  state  considers  to  be  of  sig- 
nificance to  its  own  heritage.  The  adjustment  of 
the  individual  born  within  an  ethnic  group  to  the 
total  life  must  rightly  be  made  through  the  co-oper-, 
ative  work  of  the  pubUc  and  the  ethnic  schools.^ 

This  position  would  seem  very  secure  only 
if  the  groups  represented  in  immigration 
were  specialized  by  heredity,  so  that  some 
of  them  could  do  certain  things  that  others 
could  not  do,  or  do  them  better — if  some 
of  them  were  poetical,  some  philosophical, 
some  born  physicists.  But  it  is  not  apparent 
that  even  the  most  distinct  races,  the  black, 
white,  and  yellow,  are  characterized  in  this 
way.    The   anthropologists   think  that  if 

*  Alexander  M.  Dushkin,  Jewish  Education  in  New  York  City, 
pp.  4  and  386. 

*  I.  B.  Berkson,  Americanization:  A  Critical  Study  (in  press). 

301 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


such  differences  exist  they  are  not  very 
great.  Certainly  the  Japanese  have  shown 
that  in  general  they  can  do  anything  that 
we  can  do,  and  have  not  shown  that  they 
can  do  anything  that  we  cannot  do.  It 
is  easier  to  explain  why  the  Jew  is  in  the 
needle  trades,  is  not  a  farmer,  and  is  intelli- 
gent, on  the  ground  of  circumstances — that 
he  has  had  a  given  racial  history — than  on 
the  ground  of  inborn  aptitudes. 

In  any  case,  so  far  as  European  immigra- 
tion is  concerned,  we  do  not  have  to  do  with 
races  at  all  in  the  proper  sense.  The  "races '* 
of  Europe  are  all  mongrel,  and  are  classified 
on  the  basis  of  language  and  custom.  The 
Magyars,  for  example,  came  in  from  Asia 
only  a  thousand  years  ago,  but  they  are  so 
interbred  with  Germans,  Ruthenians,  Slovaks 
Rumanians,  Serbians,  Croatians,  that  it 
is  difficult  to  find  an  example  of  the  original 
Magyar  type.  The  Prussians  were  not  orig- 
inally Germans  at  all,  but  a  Baltic  tribe, 
akin  to  the  Lithuanians.  Even  the  Jews 
are  greatly  intermixed  with  both  Asiatics 
and  Europeans.  Twenty  per  cent  of  the 
Jews  are  blond. ^ 

We  have  referred  in  Chapter  YL  to  the  fact 
that  the  peasant  does  not  greatly  fear  death 
for  himself,  but  is  terrified  by  a  pest  or  war, 

1  Details  are  in  Franz  Boas'  The  Mind  of  Primitive  Man. 
302 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


where  the  existence  of  his  group  is  threatened. 
Men  fear  extinction,  not  only  for  themselves, 
but  for  their  groups.  We  do  not  wish  to 
have  our  families  die  out;  we  cannot  think 
calmly  of  the  white  race  as  dying  out;  we 
do  not  wish  to  have  even  the  birds  and  the 
flowers  die  out.  We  wish  only  our  enemies 
to  die  out.  The  thought  of  a  given  group 
being  swallowed  up  by  another  group  leaves 
the  apprehension  of  death  in  the  minds  of 
its  members.  The  dread  of  the  death  of 
their  communities  is  the  instinctive  basis 
of  the  wish  of  the  immigrant  groups  to 
remain  separate  in  America.  The  rational 
and  practical  basis  of  the  wish  is  the  claim 
that  they  will  in  that  way  have  more  security, 
recognition,  and  efficiency. 

We  see  no  objection  to  an  immigrant 
group  remaining  perpetually  in  America 
as  immigrant  group  or  as  racial  element  on 
the  basis  claimed  by  the  Jews  in  documents 
165-167,  if  it  is  able  to  do  so.  Certainly  our 
opposition  would  fan  the  wish  to  a  flame, 
as,  on  the  contrary,  laws  compelling  immi- 
grants to  remain  in  such  groups  would  arouse 
their  fanatical  resistance.  But  since  we 
must  ascribe  the  peculiarities  of  these  groups 
to  a  long  train  of  common  experiences,  not 
to  inborn  and  ineradicable  traits,  there 
are  apparently  only  three  grounds  on  the 

303 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


basis  of  one  or  more  of  which  an  immigrant 
group  could  remain  culturally  separate  for 
an  indefinite  time:  (1)  the  ability  to  per- 
petuate in  the  new  generations  the  tradi- 
tional memories  of  the  group  without  loss; 
(2)  the  ability  to  create  values  superior  to 
those  of  America,  and  the  maintenance  of 
separation  in  order  not  to  sink  to  the  cultural 
level  of  America;  or  (3)  an  ineradicable 
prejudice  on  one  or  both  sides. 

(1)  Actually,  individuals  and  groups  cling 
to  their  memories  only  so  long  as  they  are 
practically  or  sentimentally  useful.  The 
efficiency  of  the  newer  immigrants  depends 
on  their  not  forgetting,  and  on  contact  with 
their  own  past,  as  is  illustrated  in  the  fol- 
lowing document,  which  was  sent  from 
America  to  Norway,  and  advises  against 
certain  radical  changes  in  the  Non\^egian 
language. 

168.  The  Nonvegians  in  America  are  and  intend 
to  remain  Americans.  They  do  not  consider  them- 
selves colonists  in  a  foreign  land.  They  regard  this 
country  as  their  own.  They  have  helped  to  build 
large  sections  of  it.  Here  their  children  are  born 
and  here  they  will  remain.  But  a  supply  of  cultural 
values  from  the  old  country  vnU  strengthen  them 
individually  and  collectively  and  make  them  even 
better  citizens  than  they  already  are.  .  .  . 

Norwegian-Americans  will  continue  for  many  years 
to  need  cultural  supply  from  the  mother  country. 

304 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


The  need  will  continue  until  our  people  have  become 
so  far  assimilated  that  they  can  supply  their  own 
cultural  requirements  from  American  sources.  But 
that  will  take  a  long  time,  because,  while  the  pioneers, 
or  those  who  are  left  of  them,  and  their  descendants 
are  thoroughly  Americanized,  there  are  still  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  people  of  the  first  generation 
who  are  not  yet  in  touch  with  American  cultural 
sources  and  therefore  depend  upon  Norway  for  their 
supply  through  the  medium  of  their  own  language. 
.  .  .  The  continued  cultural  connection  between 
Norway  and  the  Norwegian-Americans  ought,  in  my 
judgment,  to  be  built  up  on  a  solid  language  founda- 
tion. If  the  language  be  lost  we  may  be  absolutely 
sure  that  cultural  supply  from  Norway  will  cease.* 

We  know  however,  that  the  grandchildren 
of  Norwegian  immigrants  have  become  prac- 
tically indistinguishable  from  other  Amer- 
icans and  that  Norway  has  for  them,  at  most, 
only  a  poetic  value.  All  immigrant  groups 
are  losing,  even  too  completely  and  rapidly, 
their  languages,  which  would  be  the  chief 
sign  and  instrument  of  their  separate  identity. 

(2)  There  are  frequent  cases  where  a 
people  of  superior  culture  remains  indefi- 
nitely separate  in  a  culturally  inferior  group. 
The  English  in  India  and  the  Saxons  in 
Transylvania  have  remained  separate  for 
centuries.  But  no  immigrant  group  here 
can  claim  so  great  a  diversity  of  values  as 

'  H.  Sundby-Hansen,  in  a  communication  from  America  to  the 
Norwegian  newspaper  Stavangeren,  October  4,  1919. 

S05 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


is  produced  by  America  as  a  whole,  and  to 
the  degree  that  an  immigrant  group  is 
separated  from  American  life,  voluntarily 
or  by  geographical  isolation,  it  will  be 
pauperized  in  even  the  culture  which  it 
brings.  The  document  last  quoted  expresses 
this  fear.  No  existing  state  or  nation,  and 
certainly  no  nation  within  a  nation,  can 
create  alone  the  values  necessary  to  a  high 
degree  of  efficiency.  In  a  world  charac- 
terized by  individualization  of  function, 
values  must  be  secured  from  wherever  they 
exist  in  the  whole  world. 

(3)  The  question  of  prejudice  and  dis- 
crimination may  be  put  aside  as  not  serious 
enough  in  America  to  affect  the  persistence 
of  immigrant  groups.  The  Jews  have  felt 
it,  but  in  general  the  Jew  is  losing  the  marks 
of  his  identity  as  fast  as  possible,  and  to 
the  degree  that  he  does  this  the  prejudice 
disappears.  "To  the  degree  that  racial 
minorities  are  not  secure  in  their  rights" 
(as  Justice  Brandeis  puts  it),  the  separateness 
will  continue. 

The  present  inunigrant  organizations  rep- 
resent a  separateness  of  the  immigrant  groups 
from  America,  but  these  organizations  exist 
precisely  because  they  enable  the  immigrants 
to  overcome  this  separateness.  They  are 
signs,  not  of  the  perpetuation  of  immigrant 

306 


RECONCILIATION  OF  THE  HERITAGES 


groups  here,  but  of  their  assimilation.  We 
know  no  type  of  immigrant  organization 
which  is  able  to  live  without  some  feature 
related  to  the  needs  of  the  immigrant  in 
America.  The  success  of  the  nationalistic 
societies  is  based  on  such  features  as  insur- 
ance. In  addition  they  provide  entertain- 
ment and  recognition,  which  represent  uni- 
versal needs.  On  the  other  hand,  American 
organizations  for  the  immigrant  interest 
him  only  to  the  degree  that  they  understand 
and  supply  his  needs  as  immigrant. 

We  have  recorded  the  wish  of  the  Italian 
editor  (document  147,  p.  227)  that  the 
Italians  would  organize  as  do  the  Jews. 
From  his  standpoint  this  meant  a  gain  to 
be  made  at  the  expense  of  the  Americans, 
for  the  sake  of  "what  constitutes  a  gain  for 
our  race  over  the  Anglo-Saxon  race."  From 
our  standpoint,  the  Jewish  community  is 
serving  the  Jew  by  enabling  him  to  identify 
his  interests  with  America.  Because  Jewish 
organizations  make  the  Jew  eflBcient  they 
prepare  him  to  use  all  the  American  institu- 
tions. If  you  open  a  school  for  immigrants 
it  is  filled  with  Jews;  if  you  open  a  school 
for  immigrant  women  it  is  filled  with  Jewish 
women.  Some  Americans  are  disquieted 
by  the  persistence  of  immigrant  organiza- 
tions even  in  groups  of  long-standing  in  this 

307 


OLD  WORLD  TRAITS  TRANSPLANTED 


country.  But  they  disregard  the  contmual 
intake  of  recruits  from  the  old  country 
who  need  the  support  and  schooHng  of  their 
fellow  countrymen,  and  the  fact  that  these 
organizations  are  constantly  graduating  their 
members  into  general  American  life. 

Assimilation  is  thus  as  inevitable  as  it  is 
desirable;  it  is  impossible  for  the  immigrants 
we  receive  to  remain  permanently  in  separate 
groups.  Through  point  after  point  of  con- 
tact, as  they  find  situations  in  America 
intelligible  to  them  in  the  light  of  old  knowl- 
edge and  experience,  they  identify  them- 
selves with  us.  We  can  delay  or  hasten 
this  development.  We  cannot  stop  it.  If 
we  give  the  immigrants  a  favorable  milieu, 
if  we  tolerate  their  strangeness  during  their 
period  of  adjustment,  if  we  give  them  free- 
dom to  make  their  own  connections  between 
old  and  new  experiences,  if  we  help  them  to 
find  points  of  contact,  then  we  hasten  their 
assimilation.  This  is  a  process  of  growth 
as  against  the  "ordering  and  forbidding" 
policy  and  the  demand  that  the  assimilation 
of  the  immigrant  shall  be  "sudden,  complete, 
and  bitter."  And  this  is  the  completely 
democratic  process,  for  we  cannot  have  a 
political  democracy  unless  we  have  a  social 
democracy  also. 


THE  END 


DATE  DUE 


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[  II  p^^^-- 

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GAYLORD 

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